President Trump and China finally agreed to a partial trade deal on Friday, putting the 21-month trade war between the world’s two largest economies on pause — for now.
Trump’s White House rushed to characterize it as “amazing” and “historic.” Top Chinese officials held a rare news conference to emphasize this deal was a win for them that meets the “growing needs of the Chinese people.” Stocks hit record highs Thursday as Wall Street applauded the news, but stocks ended little changed Friday as details trickled out. Democratic leaders and many China hawks slammed Trump, saying he caved too easily. Many business groups were cautiously optimistic.
The full text of the deal has not been made public, but Trump’s team and Chinese officials confirmed that the president agreed to scale back some tariffs in exchange for China buying about $200 billion more of U.S. goods in the next two years and opening up to U.S. financial firms.