Bury the US-China Trade Agreement

Two years ago, in an attempt to end their deepening trade war, the United States and China signed an agreement in which China promised to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of US goods and services in 2020 and 2021, relative to 2017 levels.

That implied a total purchase commitment of $502.4 billion over the two-year period. In the end, China bought only 57% of the US exports that it had promised to buy, or $288.8 billion, and thus purchased none of the extra $200 billion.