The Big Deal, about which Donald Trump wrote on Twitter on the evening of December 12, happened. The American leader approved the first phase of a trade deal with China, writes Bloomberg, citing sources. This will help the US to avoid introducing additional duties on a number of goods from China worth about $ 160 billion on December 15.

Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019

For its part, China promised to increase purchases of American agricultural products. The United States, according to the agency, also began to discuss the reduction of current US duties on Chinese goods.

In late October, Washington said the parties were close to completing the first phase of the trade deal. Trump then indicated that the first phase of the transaction covers more than half (60%) of the long-term agreement. It was assumed that the first part of the transaction will include an obligation on the part of China to purchase US agricultural products for $ 40-50 billion, and will also relate to intellectual property and financial services.

The terms of the agreement have already been approved, it remains to finalize the legal text, sources say Bloomberg. The US White House spokesman declined to comment on this information.

• Trump unleashed a trade war with China in July 2018. The main goal was to eliminate the trade imbalance between the countries. The parties exchanged blows several times: as a result, increased duties now affect about half of all goods imported from China (worth about $ 250 billion) and about 90% of US imports to China ($ 100 billion).
• The agreement between the two largest economies in the world carries risks for Russia: in order to sharply increase imports from the USA, China will inevitably have to reduce imports from other countries.