What Happened With a signing ceremony Jan. 15 at the White House, the United States and China have made official a narrowly focused trade deal that aims to ease U.S. concerns over trade imbalances and reduce tariffs on both sides, all in an effort to limit the economic damage their trade war has inflicted not only on each of their economies, but the global economy as well. However, the so-called phase one deal leaves contentious structural economic issues and the countries' much larger differences over trade unaddressed. The deal includes a Chinese commitment to protect intellectual property rights, open up financially and buy an additional $200 billion worth of U.S. goods from four U.S. sectors over two years — on top of the baseline purchases it made in 2017.