Trade analysis on US-China trade going forward

President Donald Trump signed a trade agreement Wednesday with China that is expected to boost exports from U.S. farmers and manufacturers, protect American trade secrets and lower tensions in a long-running dispute between the world's two biggest economies.

Trump said during a White House ceremony that the deal is "righting the wrongs of the past."

He promoted the signing as a way of delivering economic justice for American workers.

The agreement is being described as "phase one" of a larger negotiation focusing on tensions in the U.S.-China trade relationship.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in a letter to Trump that the first phase was "good for China, the U.S. and for the whole world." The letter was read by Beijing's chief negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He.

But this agreement left unresolved many of the complaints — notably, the way the Chinese government subsidizes its companies — voiced by the Trump administration when it started the trade war by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports in July 2018.

"The agreement doesn't talk about any measures to stop Chinese subsidies towards its industry," International Trade and Government Regulation expert Melissa Duffy told The Associated Press.

Duffy says, "I think that the administration is certainly going to claim this as a win."

While the deal stops short of many changes the president has sought from China, it leaves in place tariffs on about $360 billion in Chinese imports, leverage the administration hopes will generate future concessions.

"The major tariffs that have been in effect aren't going anywhere right now under this agreement. So that is going to be the status quo going forward until there is a Phase 2 agreement reached," Duffy said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said work on follow-up negotiations will hinge on how China fulfills the commitments it made in the initial phase.

"I think first the United States government needs to be really clear about what its objectives are for Phase 2 and what it thinks is even feasible to accomplish. So I think that's going to require a lot of effort to identify achievable targets," Duffy told the Associated Press.