China confirms plans to sign phase-one trade deal with US next week

• China said Thursday its chief trade negotiator will visit the US next week to sign an interim agreement to defuse a more than yearlong dispute with the Trump administration.
• The statement offered the first official confirmation that China would participate in a signing ceremony President Donald Trump announced last month.
• The Trump administration has said that after the first stage is inked, trade negotiators would immediately begin to work toward a more comprehensive trade agreement.
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China said Thursday its chief trade negotiator will visit the US next week to sign an interim agreement to defuse a more than yearlong dispute with the Trump administration.

Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington on Monday and stay through the expected signing on Wednesday, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng told reporters at a press briefing. The statement offered the first official confirmation that China would participate in a signing ceremony President Donald Trump announced last month.

The US and China recently said they had hammered out the details of the so-called phase-one deal, which suspended planned tariff escalations in October. The agreement also cut in half a 15% US tariff on $120 billion worth of Chinese imports. Tariffs were kept on more than $250 billion worth of targeted goods.

The two sides have not released the 86-page text of the phase-one deal, but the White House said it secured commitments from China on some of the ways it manages its economy. Those included pledges for stricter rules around intellectual property protections and currency movements, as well as increased financial sector access for US firms.

The Trump administration has said China also agreed to dramatically increase its imports of American farm products. But the second-largest economy has repeatedly declined to confirm the touted $50 billion quota, which would be more than double the amount of farm products it imported from the US in 2017.

China will "improve its tariff policy on wheat, corn and other farm products based on the rules of the World Trade Organization," Gao said.

The statement from China on Thursday suggested that progress had been made after weeks of legal scrubs and translation processes between the two nations. The Trump administration has said that after the first stage is inked, trade negotiators would immediately begin to work toward a more comprehensive trade agreement.