On January 15, 2020, the United States and China signed the Phase One Trade Agreement previously announced in December 2019, this trade agreement includes commitments by China to increase purchases of goods and services from the United States including the revision of a range of issues which involves, agriculture, currency, financial services, intellectual property rights protection and technology transfer. In addition, according to a notice from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) The Section 301 additional tariff on List 4A goods imported from China will be reduced from 15 percent to 7.5 percent beginning in February 14.
The Phase One Agreement will leave the remaining Section 301 tariffs in place, including the list 4B, which were scheduled to be assessed an additional 15 percent duty effective December 15, 2019, and later postponed indefinitely by President Trump, however, its signing means an important step towards a near/mid-term de-escalation of tariffs and trade tensions between both countries.
