The U.S.-China Phase 1 Trade Agreement— Purchases of goods and services by China continue to lag dramatically behind commitments

The U.S. and China are now in the second year of the Phase I Agreement that took effect in mid-February 2020. As reported in prior posts, both China and the U.S. have taken steps to implement parts of the Phase 1 Agreement addressing specific non tariff barriers and intellectual property issues, although the level of actual implementation remains unclear. However, commitments China made to significantly increase imports of goods and services from the United States have generally not been fulfilled as reviewed month by month in prior posts. As China’s economy actually grew in 2020 and is experience very rapid growth in 2021, the failure of the purchase commitments can’t be attributed to any significant extent on China’s economic performance.

Prior posts on the U.S.-China Phase 1 Agreement can be found here: March 20, 2021, The U.S.-China Phase 1 Trade Agreement under the Biden Administration, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2021/03/20/the-u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-under-the-biden-administration/; February 6, 2021, U.S.-China Phase I Trade Agreement – data through December 2020; China has increased purchases of agricultural and energy products above 2017 levels but did not reach first year agreed purchases in 2020 and won’t reached the agreed level even if measured from March 2020-February 2021, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2021/02/06/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-data-through-december-2020-china-has-increased-purchases-of-agricultural-and-energy-products-above-2017-levels-but-did-not-reach-first-year-agreed-purchases-in/; January 9, 2021, U.S.-China Phase 1 Trade Agreement — Data through November 2020; China has increased purchases of agricultural and energy products above 2017 levels but will not reach first year agreed purchases in 2020 whether measured on a calendar basis or on a March 2020-February 2021 basis, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2021/01/09/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-data-through-november-2020-china-has-increased-purchases-of-agricultural-and-energy-products-above-2017-levels-but-will-not-reach-first-year-agreed-purchases-in/; December 10, 2020, U.S.-China Phase I Trade Agreement – data through October 2020; while China has increased purchases of agricultural and some other products, China remains far behind on the agreed purchases in 2020 whether measured on a calendar basis or on a March 2020-February 2021 basis, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/12/10/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-data-through-october-2020-while-china-has-increased-purchases-of-agricultural-and-some-other-products-china-remains-far-behind-on-the-agreed-purchases-in-2020-w/; November 13, 2020, U.S.-China Phase 1 trade agreement – Data through September 2020; USDA and USTR report on agriculture portion, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/11/13/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-data-through-september-2020-usda-and-ustr-report-on-agriculture-portion/; October 10, 2020,  U.S.-China Phase I Trade Agreement – first six months data on U.S. exports (March-August 2020) covered by the purchase commitments show China needing to triple purchases in next five months to meet first year commitments, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/10/10/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-first-six-months-data-on-u-s-exports-march-august-2020-covered-by-the-purchase-commitments-show-china-needing-to-triple-purchases-in-next-six-months-to-meet-fi/; September 12, 2020, U.S.-China Phase I Trade Agreement – How is China Doing to Meet Purchase Commitments for the First Year; a Review of U.S. Domestic Exports through July 2020, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/09/12/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-how-is-china-doing-to-meet-purchase-commitments-for-the-first-year-a-review-of-u-s-domestic-exports-through-july-2020/; August 8, 2020, U.S.-China Phase 1 trade agreement – review of U.S. domestic exports through June 2020, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/08/08/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-review-of-u-s-domestic-exports-through-june-2020/; July 10, 2020, U.S.-China Phase 1 Trade Agreement – limited progress on increased U.S. exports to China (through May), https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/07/10/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-limited-progress-on-increased-u-s-exports-to-china-through-may/; June 5, 2020, U.S.-China Phase I Deal is Failing Expanded U.S. Exports Even Before Recent Efforts by China to Limit Certain U.S. Agriculture Exports as Retaliation for U.S. Position on Hong Kong, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/06/05/u-s-china-phase-i-deal-is-failing-expanded-u-s-exports-even-before-recent-efforts-by-china-to-limit-certain-u-s-agriculture-exports-as-retaliation-for-u-s-position-on-hong-kong/; May 12, 2020, U.S.-China Phase I Agreement – some progress on structural changes; far behind on trade in goods and services, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/05/12/u-s-china-phase-i-agreement-some-progress-on-structural-changes-far-behind-on-trade-in-goods-and-services/; January 19, 2020, U.S.-China Phase 1 Agreement – Details on the Expanding Trade Chapter, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/01/19/u-s-china-phase-1-agreement-details-on-the-expanding-trade-chapter/; January 15, 2020, U.S.-China Phase 1 Trade Agreement Signed on January 15 – An Impressive Agreement if Enforced, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2020/01/15/u-s-china-phase-1-trade-agreement-signed-on-january-15-an-impressive-agreement-if-enforced/.

This post looks at U.S. export data for January-February 2021 and also looks at U.S. exports to China during the twelve months March 2020-February 2021.

Purchase Commitments

Annex 6.1 of the Phase I Agreement contains commitments for “additional U.S. exports to China on Top of 2017 baseline” for two years, 2020 and 2021. Article 6.3 of the Agreement states that “The Parties project that the trajectory of increases in the amounts of manufactured goods, agricultural goods, energy products, and services purchased and imported into China from the United States will continue in calendar years 2022 through 2025.”

The Agreement lists 18 categories of goods grouped in three broad categories (manufactured goods, agriculture and energy) and five services categories. Chinese imports of goods and services from the United States under the Agreement are supposed to increase by $76.7 billion in the first year over levels achieved in 2017 and in the second year by $123.3 billion over 2017 levels. The categories and tariff items included in the goods categories are reviewed in Annex 6.1 of the Agreement and the attachment to Annex 6.1. In the confidential version of the agreement, growth levels are provided for each of the 23 categories of goods and services.

Article 6.2 of the Agreement defines the time period for the purchase commitments as being January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021. So the first year by agreement was calendar year 2020. Calendar year 2021 is the second year of the agreement. The level of increases in U.S. exports to China for 2021 is as follows: manufactured goods $44.8 billion on top of 2017 base line of $58.4 billion (2021 total of $103.2 billion or an increase of 76.81% over 2017 actual); agriculture (including seafood) $19.5 billion on top of 2017 base line of $20.85 billion (2021 total of $40.35 billion or an increase of 93.51% over 2017 actual); energy $33.9 billion on top of 2017 base line of $7.6 billion (2021 total of $41.5 billion or an increase of 447.95% over 2017 actual); services $25.1 billion on top of 2017 base line for the selected services of $53.033 billion (2021 total of $78.133 billion or an increase of 47.33% over 2017 actual).

Increases from 2017 for the calendar year 2020 agreed levels were lower than for 2021 (increases over 2017 of $32.9 billion, $12.5 billion, $18.5 billion and $12.8 billion respectively for manufactured goods, agriculture, energy and services).

The breakout of services exports is not available for 2020 or the first two months of 2021. However, U.S. exports of all services to China for 2020 were $37.921 billion vs. $54.981 billion in 2017, a decline of 31% for all services, thus, U.S. services exports covered by the Phase I Agreement declined in 2020. See U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, MONTHLY U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, February 2021, April 7, 2021, page 28, Exhibit 20b, https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf. While the BEA data don’t show exports of services in January or February by country, January-February 2021 total services exports are down from January-February 2020 (before the pandemic resulted in significant closures) with the largest reductions in travel followed by transport and by maintenance and repair services. Id at Exhibit 3.

In 2017, the selected goods covered by Annex 6.1 were $86.795 billion of total U.S. domestic exports to China of $120.109 billion, meaning non-covered U.S. exports in 2017 were $33.314 billion. On services, the selected services covered by Annex 6.1 were $53.033 billion of total services exports to China of $54.981. So non-covered services were $1.948 billion. For goods, there were sharp declines in 2020 of U.S. exports to China of non-covered products from the levels achieved in 2017 (a decline of $6.6 billion). Non-covered products are also down up in January-February 2021 versus January-February 2017 ($4.378 billion vs. $5.135 billion). While the services break out for 2020 is not yet available by country by type of service, total services exports to China (as reviewed above) were down 31% . The non-covered services are relatively small (just 3.5% of total services exports).

Since the Agreement took effect in mid-February, my analysis in prior posts has focused on the period since the agreement went into effect (for statistics, from March 1, 2020). This is consistent with the position that USTR and USDA took in the Trump Administration in an interim report released on October 23 looking at China’s compliance with its purchase commitments in agriculture. “It is worth noting that the Phase One Agreement did not go into effect until February 14, 2020, and March is the first full month of its effect. That means that we have seen seven months of agreement sales.” U.S. Trade Representative’s Office and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Interim Report on the Economic and Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, AGRICULTURAL TRADE, October 23, 2020, Page 1. Since today’s post covers U.S. exports through February (12 months, if the starting month is March 2020), I include that analysis below. In future posts, I will limit my analysis to calendar 2021 vs. calendar 2017.

March 2020-February 2021 data compared to 2017; January-February 2021 compared to January-February 2017

For purposes of this post, I will look at the March 2020 – February 2021 data compared to calendar year 2017 data, but I will also look at the first two months of 2021 compared to the first two months of 2017. In my post in February, I had reviewed calendar 2020 data compared to 2017 data. Looking at the March 2020-February 2021 period vs. calendar year 2020 results in U.S. domestic exports for Phase I products being $6.4 billion higher, being slightly higher than 2017 (vs. 2020 being slightly lower) but missing the commitment levels of purchases by China by $60.4 billion vs. $66.8 billion for the 2020 calendar year. The data analyzed is limited to goods since the services data is more limited and has been summarized above.

Looking at U.S. domestic exports for the March 2020 – February 2021 period shows China meeting 92.43% of first year agriculture commitments, and U.S. agricultural exports being 47.85% above 2017 actual levels. U.S. domestic exports to China of all Phase 1 products are only 59.91% of first year commitments with manufactured goods at 53.01% and energy at 42.45%. While agriculture products covered by the Phase I commitments exported to China in the March 2020-February 2021 period exceeded 2017 actual by $10 billion and energy exceeded 2017 by $3.5 billion, manufactured goods were $10 billion smaller than 2017 actual. Compared to first year purchase commitments, total U.S. Phase I goods exports were $60.4 billion short of the agreed first year level.

If looking at a calendar year 2021, the data for January-February show increases for agriculture (+39.34%) and energy (+51.21%) but a decline for manufactured goods (-3.81%) compared to January-February 2017 but each category trails the level of increase needed to meet 2021 purchase commitments. Manufactured goods have a commitment level that is 76.81% higher than 2017 actual. Similarly, on agricultural products covered by the Phase I commitments, U.S. exports require a 93.51% increase above 2017 actual levels. On energy, U.S. exports to China need to be 477.93% above 2017 actual. For all Phase I goods, U.S. exports in January-February are up 14.73% but the annual increase to meet the Phase I commitment is 113.14%.

Looking at total U.S. domestic exports of goods to China for the period March 2020 – February 2021., U.S. exports were $117.589 billion ($9.799 billion/month) compared to $120.109 billion in 2017 ($10.009 billion/month). These include both products covered by the Annex 6.1 commitments and other products. For January-February 2021, total U.S. domestic exports to China were $19.530 billion compared to $18.360 billion in January-February 2017.

Total 2017 U.S. domestic exports of goods to China were $120.1 billion. The Phase 1 Agreement calls for increases on a subset of goods of $63.9 billion in the first year. Thus, the target for the first year of the U.S.-China Phase 1 Agreement is U.S. exports to China of $184 billion if non-subject goods are exported at 2017 levels.

Other U.S. domestic exports not covered by the 18 categories in Annex 6.1 were $33.314 billion in 2017. For the period March 2020 – February 2021, non-covered products (which face significant tariffs in China based on retaliation for US 301 duties) have declined 18.01%, and total exports to China are down 2.10%. Looking at January-February 2021, other U.S. domestic exports (i.e., not covered by the Phase I Agreement) were down 15.04% from comparable levels in January-February 2017.

Thus, using the March 2020-February 2021 period since the U.S.-China Phase 1 Agreement went into effect, U.S. domestic exports of the Annex 6 goods were $90.274 billion; non-covered products were $27.315 billion, for total U.S. domestic exports to China of $117.589 billion. This figure is below 2017 and dramatically below the target of $184.0 billion (if noncovered products remain are at 2017 levels; $177.421 billion with noncovered products at March 2020 – February 2021 levels) . The U.S. domestic exports to China were, however, higher than the $109.72 billion in 2018 and the depressed figure of $94.100 billion in 2019.

If one looks at January-February 2021, U.S. domestic exports to China of Annex 6 goods were $15.152 billion, other exports were $4.378 billion, for total domestic exports in January 2021 of $19.530 billion, ahead of January-February 2017 but far behind the level of exports needed to meet the second year purchase commitments by China (Phase I products are up 14.73% vs. full year increase needed of 113.14%).

The 18 product categories included in Annex 6.1 of the Phase 1 Agreement show the following for 2017, March 2020 – February 2021 and rate of growth as well as the dollar shortfall by major category compared to 1st year purchase commitments by China.:

Conclusion

As reviewed in prior posts, the U.S.-China Phase 1 Agreement is a potentially important agreement which attempts to address a range of U.S. concerns with the bilateral relationship and obtain somewhat better reciprocity with the world’s largest exporter. The Phase 1 Agreement has left other challenges to a Phase 2 negotiation which has not yet begun. USTR Tai has indicated that the Biden Administration will monitor compliance by China with the terms of the Phase I Agreement.

While there has been some progress on non-trade volume issues that are included in the Phase 1 Agreement and some significant improvements in exports of U.S. agricultural goods, there has been very little forward movement in expanding total U.S. exports of goods to China in fact and a sharp decline in U.S. exports of services to China.

The differences in economic systems between China and the United States made reliance on WTO rules less relevant to the Trump Administration as those rules presume market-based economies and presently don’t address the myriad distortions that flow from the Chinese state capital system. Thus, the Phase I Agreement was an effort to move the needle in trade relations with China to achieve greater reciprocity. It has had some limited success to date. While the Biden Administration is doing a full review of the challenges posed by China’s trade policies, there remains a lot of work to see that the Phase I Agreement is fulfilled.

• Terence Stewart, former Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, and author of the blog, Current Thoughts on Trade.

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