Trump Concedes the Trade War to China

Chris Taylor of the New Democrat Network has written a concise analysis of the "Phase 1" China deal announced by the White House.  The details of the IPR commitments have not been announced yet, and there have been numerous other such commitments that China has made and broken over the years. China's commitment to buy U.S. agriculture is helpful, but essentially restores U.S. farm exports to the level they would have been without the tariff war of the past two years. In addition to the economic losses from the tariff war, by agreeing to a "lite" deal, the U.S. has lost the considerable leverage it accumulated by imposing the tariffs in the first place, making it hard to expect a better outcome from a Phase 2 agreement next year. 

https://www.ndn.org/blog/2019/12/trump-concedes-trade-war-china