Trump hails China trade deal as 'much better' than expected
President Donald Trump on Sunday hailed the trade deal signed last week with China for dramatically improving relations with Beijing, saying it was "much better" than he expected.
The "phase one" deal marks a truce in the two countries' trade war after nearly two years of tensions. But with tariffs still in place on two-thirds of more than US $ 500 billion worth of imports from China, US consumers and businesses will be left to foot the bill.
"This is an incredible success for our entire country," Trump said Sunday evening at a rally in Austin, Texas. He was speaking to a convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
"I think China's gonna go all out to prove that the agreement that was signed is a good agreement. It's much bigger and much better than I ever thought we'd get," he said.
Trump also praised a new chapter in relations with Beijing, calling it "the best relationship that we've ever had with China in many, many years."
"China respects us now," Trump said. "They didn't respect us. They couldn't believe they were getting away with what they were getting away with."
The US and China signed "phase one" of their trade deal on Wednesday, bringing relief to stock markets after prolonged trade friction.
The deal is also a boon for Trump as he faces an impeachment trial in the Senate this week, followed by a tough re-election fight.
The agreement includes pledges from China to beef up purchases of US agricultural goods and other exports for two years, provides some protections for US technology, and new enforcement mechanisms that allow Washington to quickly impose penalties that Beijing cannot respond to.
Chinese state-run newspapers hailed the signing of the "hard-fought agreement", but warned that it would "not take much to banjax the deal" and bring tensions to a head again.
The most difficult issues remain to be dealt with in "phase two" negotiations, including China's massive subsidies for state industry.
And elements of the deal the administration has touted as achievements effectively take the relationship between the two powers back to where it was before Trump took office.
Additionally, a senior administration official told reporters on January 16 that China has not made any specific commitments to cut tariffs it has imposed on US goods in retaliation.
Trump has repeatedly touted the trade pact as a win for American farmers, who were hit hard by the tariff war.
Soybean exports to China plunged to $3 billion from more than $12 billion in 2017 and the Trump administration paid out $28 billion in aid to farmers in the past two years.
Toyota on Friday said it was moving assembly operations for its popular Tacoma pickups from the United States to Mexico but pledged that no US jobs would be affected.
The announcement came a day after the US Senate approved the new US-Mexico Canada Agreement on trade, which importantly revamps the rules for manufacturing and cross-border trade in autos.
Since 2010, the Tacoma has been produced at a plant in San Antonio, Texas that employs 3,200 workers with an annual capacity of 208,000 vehicles.
But this will come to an end in 2021, the company said in a statement, and all production will then take place at a factory in Baja California, Mexico.
Beginning in 2022, the San Antonio plant will switch to producing the Toyota Sequoia SUV, which had previously rolled off the assembly line in Princeton, Indiana.
It was unclear how US President Donald Trump would take the news. In an angry tweet, Trump in 2017 had blasted Toyota's decision to send production of the Corolla sedan to Mexico and the company ultimately continued production in the United States.
Trump had long blasted USMCA's predecessor, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it promoted offshoring of jobs.
US officials say the USMCA, which has yet to take effect, will promote investment in the domestic auto sector.