Following are details of the agreement released by the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Beijing has not yet released a version in Chinese.
CHINA PURCHASES
China agreed to increase purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over the next two years, over a baseline established in 2017, with increased imports of U.S. goods and services to "continue on this same trajectory for several years after 2021."
China bought $130 billion in U.S. goods in 2017, before the trade war began, and $56 billion in services, U.S. data show.
China has committed to $77.7 billion in additional manufacturing purchases over two years, up from the 2017 level, the text says, which will be a $32.9 billion increase in 2020 and a $44.8 billion increase in 2021.
That means China’s imports of U.S. manufactured goods, such as industrial machinery, electrical equipment, pharmaceutical products, aircraft, vehicles, optical and medical instruments, iron and steel, solar-grade polysilicon, hardwood lumber, and chemical products, among other goods, will total at least $120.0 billion in 2020 and at least $131.9 billion in 2021, USTR said in a fact sheet on the trade deal.
China has committed to at least $52.4 billion in additional energy purchases over the two years, from a baseline of $9.1 billion in 2017. That will be broken into $18.5 billion additional in 2020 and $33.9 billion in 2021.
China's imports of energy products from the United States, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil, and metallurgical coal, will total at least $30.1 billion in 2020 and at least $45.5 billion in 2021.
China will also purchase $37.9 billion in services from U.S. companies above the 2017 level over the two years, $12.8 billion above the 2017 level in 2020 and $25.1 billion above the level in 2021.
That means China's imports of U.S. services, such as financial services, insurance services, cloud services, and travel services, will total at least $99.9 billion in 2020 and at least $112.2 billion in 2021.
China "shall ensure" additional purchases of U.S. agriculture products by $32 billion over two years, the deal says, including $12.5 billion above the corresponding 2017 baseline of $24 billion in 2020 and $19.5 billion above the baseline in 2021.
As a result, China's imports of U.S. agricultural products, such as soybeans, cotton, grains, meats, ethanol, seafood, and the full range of other agricultural products will total at least $80 billion over the next two years. China will also strive to purchase an additional $5 billion of agricultural products annually, USTR said.
The added purchases would result in an average annual total of about $40 billion, a number Trump has touted before. At the signing ceremony on Wednesday, he said China's agricultural purchases could reach $50 billion.
TARIFFS
As part of the agreement, the United States will cut by half the tariff rate it imposed on Sept. 1 on a $120 billion list of Chinese goods, to 7.5%.
U.S. tariffs of 25% on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods put in place earlier will remain immediately unchanged.
These remaining U.S. tariffs could be removed once the two sides conclude a Phase 2 trade agreement, Trump said on Wednesday. He said he did not anticipate needing to negotiate a Phase 3 agreement.
Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 15 on nearly $160 billion worth of Chinese goods, including cellphones, laptop computers, toys and clothing, are suspended indefinitely. China's retaliatory Dec. 15 tariffs, including a 25% tariff on U.S.-made autos, have also been suspended.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The deal includes stronger Chinese legal protections for patents, trademarks, copyrights, including improved criminal and civil procedures to combat online infringement, pirated and counterfeit goods, USTR said.
It contains commitments by China to follow through on previous pledges to eliminate any pressure for foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese firms as a condition of market access, licensing or administrative approvals and to eliminate any government advantages for such transfers.
China also agreed to refrain from directly supporting outbound investment aimed at acquiring foreign technology to meet its industrial plans - transactions already restricted by stronger U.S. security reviews.
CURRENCY
The currency agreement contains pledges by China to refrain from competitive currency devaluations and to avoid manipulating exchange rates for competitive advantage - language that China has accepted for years as part of its commitments to the Group of 20 major economies.
Any violations would be subject to the enforcement mechanism for the overall deal, and could trigger tariffs. Both countries also agreed to publish relevant data on exchange rates and external balances on a prescribed schedule, USTR said.
ENFORCEMENT
The United States and China will resolve differences over how the deal is implemented through bilateral consultations, starting at the working level and escalating to top-level officials.
If these consultations do not resolve disputes, there is a process for imposing tariffs or other penalties.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters the United States expected neither side would retaliate if appropriate action was taken as part of the process and following "consultation in good faith."
CHINA FINANCIAL SERVICES
U.S. officials said the deal includes improved access to China's financial services market for U.S. companies, including in banking, insurance, securities and credit rating services. It aims to address a number of longstanding U.S. complaints about investment barriers in the sector, including foreign equity limitations and discriminatory regulatory requirements.
China, which has pledged https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-foreigninvestment-refor-idUSKBN14J087 for years to open up its financial services sector to more foreign competition, said the deal would boost imports of financial services from the United States.
(Reporting by David Lawder, Andrea Shalal and Jeff Mason; Editing by Leslie Adler, Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall)
