US and China have kind of reached a tentative trade deal

By: John C.

China and the US have some sort of tentative deal on trade.

It happened last Friday, but was rumored earlier in the week. Wall Street was happy, so President Trump must also be happy.

Most Americans don’t know dim sum about China. So I’ve been talking to people who do, or who know people who know. And the consensus is that this was the easy part.

In the first place, the two countries only settled on a preliminary agreement on the first phase of a deal. They basically agreed to continue to find an agreement.

Some tariffs were cut by the US, and others weren’t implemented. So trade tensions de-escalated.

The hard part, according to people who know China, is getting that country to abide by whatever rules it agrees to. Put another way, how is the US going to keep China from cheating?

And the most cheating will likely be in the technology area, especially in semiconductors. The Chinese love semiconductors. And once they get their hands on those little devils, the experts are worried they will copy them and manufacturer the computer components in Chinese factories.

But isn’t there a saying that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?” So we should be flattered if the Chinese steal our ideas, I guess.