Comment: In less than a week, a series of trade deals and the gutting of the World Trade Organisation has marked the end of an era that is about 75 years old, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz
Certainly, the 18-month effort to force China into re-making its state-owned and directed economic model and reforming its trade practices has proven to be neither as good nor as easy as Trump proclaimed at the outset.
There are lot of caveats in that agreement, given the question marks over the US ability to supply that volume of product and China’s demand for the products that the US can supply. There are some other minor aspects of the deal – intellectual property protections, assurances that China will end forced technology transfers, improved market access and greater transparency for China’s currency market interventions – but, in the circumstances, China has had the better of the negotiations.
Those issues have been left to a "Phase Two" negotiation that, with the US elections next year, may never be held. Trump’s desire to strike a deal that he could present as a victory heading into the election year encouraged China to demand the rollback of some of the tariffs as its price for agreeing a deal.
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