Signal AFTP report finds China missed Phase One commitments as the bilateral deficit widened

Summary

The America First Trade Policy report delivered to President Trump calls China's weak implementation of the Phase One deal a serious concern. It finds that Beijing failed to honour commitments on agriculture, financial services and intellectual property protection. The report also plays down the value of permanent normal trade relations with China. It links the rise in the bilateral goods deficit, from 83.8 billion dollars in 2000 to 295.4 billion dollars in 2024, to state-led investment and subsidies, industrial overcapacity, lax labour and environmental standards, coercive technology transfer and protectionism. It concludes that China has operated a non-market economic system in the two decades since it gained permanent normal trade relations.