US, China conclude Phase 1 of trade commitments

Thomas Franck reports in CNBC about today's agreement between the U.S. and China.

The phase one deal is seen as a sort of truce and includes concessions by the Chinese to crack down on intellectual property theft and the forced transfer of American technologies. But it also includes import targets for Beijing, which has promised to buy a host of American products as the two sides work toward a permanent bilateral agreement.

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Our trade with China

In the American Thinker, Julio Rivera writes about our trade war with China. He suggests,

...this trade war could be a blessing in disguise. Being too reliant on China as a supplier can actually make American companies (and U.S. citizens) vulnerable to cyber operations by state-affiliated actors.

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Trump calls an armistice on his trade war with China

In Asia Times, David Goldman writes,

It’s not over until it’s over, but President Donald Trump might have secured his re-election on Friday by calling an armistice in his trade war with China.

...The stock market is saying that the economy’s problem during the past year was the trade war, and that a resolution of trade will lead to faster economic growth.

The best-performing sectors in today’s market rally are the ones most sensitive to the overall condition of the world economy and world trade, starting with energy equipment, energy exploration and development, retail, mining and transportation. These are sectors that are exposed to the indirect effects of trade war with China.

...The biggest damage to the US economy from the tariff war was to throw investment indecisions into a miasma of uncertainty. Corporations in the US and overseas didn’t know where to locate supply chains and sat on their hands. As a result, investment fell, and became a net drag on GDP, offsetting an increase in consumer spending. The result was a sharp slowdown of growth as well as a manufacturing recession.

It will take some time to repair the damage to business decision-making arising from the trade war, but today’s stock market move shows how quickly expectations can turn around.

President Trump is on the right track, and future historians might cite today’s negotiations with China as a milestone on his way to a second term.

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