Trump announces signing date for deal with China

Jan 02, 2020

The two countries will put pen to paper on the phase one agreement Jan. 15

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The United States and China have set a date to sign phase one of their bilateral trade agreement.

Representatives from both nations will be in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 15 for a signing ceremony, President Trump said.

“I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15,” he tweeted on Dec. 31. “The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!”

I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019

The signing will come about one month after the two countries agreed on the text of the agreement.

The trade deal has major implications for the U.S. ag industry.

As part of the agreement, China will purchase up to US$50 billion worth of American ag products in 2020.

In 2018, while the two countries were in a trade war, the U.S. only exported US$9.2 billion worth of ag products to China.

The signing could raise commodity prices, which have seen some upward momentum since the text agreement on Dec. 13.

“The signing is widely expected to be received with relief by markets,” said Abhinesh Gopal, commodity analyst with Farms.com Risk Management. “Before we closed out 2019, the news that the phase one deal signing is close by already started supporting market prices. Grain prices have been more in the green since the trade deal news broke, and we are in the green again today.”

Farms.com has reached out to U.S. farm groups for comment.

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