The first-phase trade deal between Washington and Beijing once again raises hope, but comprehensive solutions are far-fetched.

After talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Liu He on October 11, the two sides agreed on a preliminary agreement covering financial, monetary and agricultural services. However, some issues such as Chinese technology and economic policy are not mentioned.

The White House boss hopes to sign an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they come to Chile for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in mid-November, implying other terms between the two sides. However, the negotiators will need 5 weeks to complete the agreement, which means that there is still a lot of work to be done.

"In any trade deal, the hardest part is always in the details," Stephen Olson, a research expert at the Hinrich Foundation, said on October 14. "In fact, there is no US-China trade agreement yet."

Trump called the progress made between the two countries "a very significant first-phase deal", likening it to a "love party" after months of friction. Meanwhile, Chinese state-run media have been more cautious about avoiding the word "agreement", saying only that the two sides have made "significant progress" and even expressed suspicion of the United States.

"Based on past developments, Washington may decide to cancel the agreement at any time if it finds that this is in their best interest," China Daily wrote in an editorial on October 13. . Experts are also skeptical about the process of implementing the provisions. In addition, many other major issues remain unresolved.

Beijing approves a number of conditions to buy American agricultural products, including soybeans and pork. Washington said the deal on October 11 included US $ 40-50 billion of US agricultural exports to China.

For Beijing, agreeing to buy US agricultural products could be partially driven by domestic pork demand, according to Jeffrey Halley, Asia-Pacific market analyst at Oanda, USA. . "The terms are appropriate for their current situation, especially when the cholera epidemic has seriously damaged this product," Halley explained.

Beijing last month also signaled it was willing to negotiate this item with Washington. China has lost more than 100 million pigs to the African swine cholera, prompting officials to urgently provide pork reserves to stabilize the world's largest pork market.

In 2017, before the trade war began, the United States sold $ 24 billion of farm produce to China, compared with $ 9.3 billion last year. Trump on October 13 wrote on Twitter that China would "immediately" start buying "very large quantities" of agricultural produce, but the details of the deal remain unclear.

On the Washington side, under the new agreement, they agreed to postpone raising the tax from 25% to 30% on $ 250 billion of Chinese goods, which was expected to take effect from October 15. However, a tax increase order on December 15, with a rate of 15% for US $ 160 billion of Chinese goods, is still in the plan. These taxes can hurt American consumers, because they affect popular items like laptops and smartphones.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned on October 14 that if the two countries do not reach a trade agreement, the December tax plan will be implemented. Meanwhile, most imports from China into the US will be taxed, and Beijing is also expected to levy nearly 70% of US goods in return.

The US-China trade war does not stop at "tit for tat" taxes, two world economic superpowers are also scrambling for technological dominance in the future. Washington's sanctions against China's "telecommunications giant" Huawei and a number of important artificial intelligence (AI) companies make the "front" more tense.

However, there are few signs that the two countries are progressing to solve this problem. The US last week even added a number of Chinese technology companies such as SenseTime and Hikvision to the commercial blacklist. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer also confirmed Huawei is "not part" of the first phase deal.

Beijing over the years efforts to get rid of the nickname "the world's factory". Instead, they strive to promote innovation and develop high technology, the plan in which Huawei plays a key role. Washington, meanwhile, sought to impede Huawei's global business, accusing the company of a potential security threat despite its denials.

In a meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan in June, Trump said he would allow US companies to continue selling to Huawei. This appears to be a sign that Trump wants to move towards a trade deal rather than a technology Cold War. Therefore, Huawei is considered a "concession card" in negotiations between the two countries.

The US also mentioned it was possible to withdraw its decision to label China as a "currency manipulator". Washington made the allegation in August, after the Central Bank of China allowed the renminbi to depreciate. Mnuchin Minister on 11/10 said the US will "consider" this issue, but did not give details.

He noted that money "is a very big concern" for Trump and the two countries have "an agreement on transparency in the foreign exchange market and the free market". However, experts question whether the agreement will bring any significant change in the way China handles the renminbi.

"Transparency is good. But basically, we know that China hasn't manipulated much over the years," said former US Treasury Department official Mark Sobel.

Intellectual property is also one of the issues that make the US concerned about China. Washington argues that Beijing has a lax approach to intellectual property rights, accusing it of stealing intellectual property by forcing American companies operating in China to transfer technology. However, this issue does not appear in the first phase agreement between the two countries.

Trump said intellectual property provisions could be included in the "phase two, phase three" agreement. However, economist Tommy Wu at Oxford Economics is not too optimistic about this issue.

"We think China will highly likely defy the pressures and do not change its technology policy, because China sees this as the basis for its growth and development strategy in the future," the expert said. explain.