Washington (AFP)

The text of the partial trade agreement between the United States and China will be made public in its entirety Wednesday at the time of the signature of the document in Washington, according to the economic adviser of the White House, Larry Kudlow.

Here are the main elements of the agreement that were revealed when it was announced on December 13.

- Areas concerned -

The agreement includes intellectual property, forced technology transfers, food and agricultural products, financial services, the exchange rate, the strengthening of trade and even the resolution of disputes.

"The agreement establishes a solid dispute settlement system that guarantees quick and efficient implementation and enforcement of the agreement," said US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Since the start of trade negotiations, the United States has stressed that such a mechanism is completely essential in order to be able to ensure that China respects its commitments.

- Agriculture -

China, which was the second largest market for agricultural exports, has fallen to fifth place since the start of hostilities.

According to the Americans, China has pledged to buy 200 billion American goods, including agricultural products worth 40 to 50 billion dollars. But the vagueness remains on the deadline: 50 billion over two years, per year?

Chinese authorities have yet to confirm these amounts.

On Thursday, Donald Trump, reporting unpublished amounts of purchases, questioned the ability of farmers and ranchers to provide such a quantity.

It would be about twice as high as the peak of China's purchases in 2012.

In 2017, before the start of the trade war, China was still importing $ 19.5 billion in U.S. agricultural products, a number that fell to just over $ 9 billion in 2018.

Han Jun, Chinese vice minister of agriculture, said the preliminary agreement provided for increased agricultural exports from China to America, citing in particular cooked poultry, pears and dates.

"Some of these problems have been discussed for more than 10 years. This time, there has been a major breakthrough," he said.

- Customs fees -

From the start, Beijing demanded that Washington remove all or part of the additional customs duties on imports from China.

The 25% tariff on the equivalent of $ 250 billion worth of Chinese goods will remain in place.

On the other hand, those of 15% relating to another 120 billion Chinese goods, in force since September 1, are halved (7.5%).

In addition, the American president has agreed to cancel the 15% out of the 160 billion dollar tariff burst initially scheduled for mid-December.

For his part, the Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance, Liao Min, did not specify whether Beijing would remove the punitive customs duties already imposed on American products arriving in Chinese territory.

Beijing had suspended in September for one year additional customs duties on 16 categories of products imported from the United States.

© 2020 AFP