Clete Willems Discusses U.S.-China Trade Deal Post Signing

Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems has been quoted by various media outlets following the signing on Wednesday of the “Phase One” trade deal between the United States and China.

The Washington Post, in the article “Trump signs partial economic deal with China, calls trade pact a ‘momentous step’,” reports that some have questioned whether China has the capacity to increase its American purchases sharply enough to match the commitments it made in the deal. Publicly, the article reports, the Chinese have sought some wiggle room, saying any new orders must be based on “market conditions.”

Willems said there is ample room for China to ramp up its U.S. imports. The deal’s dollar targets are less important than the changes it requires in Chinese agricultural regulations, which should lead to billions of dollars in new sales for American pork, beef and chicken, he said. “It really is the lasting policy changes that will make a difference,” he added.

Willems told the Financial Times for its article “US business waits on clearer outcome of China trade deal,” that the accomplishments of the deal should not be underestimated. “This deal includes enforceable commitments from China on three of the four major pillars of the Section 301 report — forced technology transfer, non-market licensing of IP, and state-directed acquisition of sensitive technology,” he said. “It also includes extremely detailed and robust provisions on trade secrets . . . [a] longstanding issue for US companies.”

In the Bloomberg article “U.S., China sign Phase One of trade deal,” Willems tried to silence the deal’s skeptics by noting that it goes a long way toward addressing the intellectual property issues that were at the heart of the case brought against China. “Anyone complaining that this doesn’t resolve every U.S.-China issue needs to recall that this entire negotiation was based on a report on China’s IP and techtransfer policies.”

As for how the deal will be enforced, the Law360 article “How The US Plans To Enforce Its New Trade Deal With China” reports that the deal calls for each country to set up a Bilateral Evaluation and Dispute Resolution Office, which will serve as the central repository for all complaints under the agreement. Those offices, the article says, will be tasked with attempting to resolve disputes, bringing in other wings of the government when necessary.

“They want to snuff things out, and the idea is you go through this process and you may not have to retaliate if you fix the problem,” said Willems.