While “phase one” of the US-China trade agreement is in place, it will not mean direct or immediate relief for Huawei, Forbes contributor Zak Doffman has asserted.
In an article published on Saturday, Doffman claimed that the Chinese tech giant will “lose out” as Beijing and Washington agreed on the deal’s “phase one”.
At the same time, the author suggested that the agreement “looks set to significantly ease tensions between the US and China at least for now”.
Trump Touts ‘Very Large’ Phase One US-China Deal
His comments came after US President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that a "very large phase one deal with China" had been clinched and that under the accord, Beijing will be required to make "many structural changes and massive purchases of agricultural product, energy, and manufactured goods, plus much more" from the US.
.....The Penalty Tariffs set for December 15th will not be charged because of the fact that we made the deal. We will begin negotiations on the Phase Two Deal immediately, rather than waiting until after the 2020 Election. This is an amazing deal for all. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2019
In a separate tweet, he dismissed media speculation that he would cancel import tariffs on China in line with the deal.
The Wall Street Journal story on the China Deal is completely wrong, especially their statement on Tariffs. Fake News. They should find a better leaker!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2019
He referred to the Wall Street Journal’s previous claims Trump had agreed to a “limited” trade deal with China, under which he would cut existing tariff rates on roughly $360 billion of Chinese-made goods by half and cancel the 15 December levies.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that “the two sides have reached consensus on the text of the phase one bilateral trade agreement on the basis of equal footing and mutual respect”.
The remarks followed the US House of Representatives passing the National Defence Authorisation Act for 2020, which specifically includes measures against Huawei, severely limiting the US Commerce Secretary’s ability to remove the Chinese tech giant from the so-called Entities List.
US Crackdown on Huawei
The US initiated its crackdown on Huawei in May when the Department of Commerce banned the company’s equipment from being supplied to American soil. Washington also severely limited US companies' ability to sell software and components to the Chinese tech giant, requiring them to get special permissions in order to do so.
Washington justified the move by accusing the company of leaving backdoors in its products to enable surveillance by the Chinese government, allegations that both Beijing and Huawei reject.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted that the Huawei issue could be resolved if the two countries reach a new trade deal to end the trade war, which has been ongoing since 2018, despite the White House dismissing allegations that the crackdown campaign was just another front in the bilateral trade spat.
