China trade deal moves forward

President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He met at the White House to sign the first phase of a trade deal on Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday repeated an official promise not to devalue the yuan as a weapon in trade disputes, and the United States announced it would drop China from a list of currency manipulators.

What’s in the agreement? In a recent tweet, Trump called the deal “very large and comprehensive.” Some analysts said that may be overstating the scope of the partial agreement, but it does signal a de-escalation of the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin this week said China has pledged to spend more on U.S. goods. “It’s $200 billion of additional products across the board over the next two years, and specifically in agriculture, $40 to $50 billion,” he said. “So this is a big opportunity for our farmers.”

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Sift on the first phase of the trade deal.