After a year-and-a-half of negotiations and tariff escalation on January 15, 2020 US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed an historic and enforceable agreement on a Phase One trade deal. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange.  With the am of “securing a level playing field for American competitiveness”. [1, 2, 3]

The agreement went into effect on February 14, 2020, but by the end of 2021 China failed to reach anywhere near their purchase committed under the agreement, under the China-friendly Biden at the helm.