- Phase One deal did not meaningfully address concerns on China's state-led, non-market policies and practices
- China has not yet implemented significant commitments in the agreement
- In particular, ones on agricultural biotechnology, ractopamine use in pork and beef
- China fully implementing agreement would help establish more solid bilateral foundation
Is anyone really surprised? The whole deal is basically a facade and both sides know that it will just be a temporary one. The pandemic has helped to distract from that and delay any escalation in geopolitical tensions but expect that to resurface soon enough over the next few months. This is perhaps an outside risk factor that not many quarters in the market have quite considered in the trading landscape for this year - in particular one to watch for equities .
