Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as experts express concerns over Donald Trump’s Phase One trade deal with ChinaGerman industry: the gloom continuesTrump: It’s the biggest deal everExperts: No it’s not, and it lacks details tooChina pledges to spend extra $200bn on US goodsFarmers disappointed as soybean prices fall 1.54pm GMT Breaking: US retail sales have risen, and the number of Americans signing on for jobless benefit has fallen.In news that will please Donald Trump, retail sales jumped by 0.3% in December. They rose by a healthier 0.7% if you strip out cars purchases, suggesting that consumers continued to spend over the festive period.US Retail Sales (M/M) Dec 0.3% (est 0.3%; prevR 0.3%; prev 0.2%)-US Retail Sales Ex. Auto (M/M) Dec 0.7% (est 0.5%; prev 0.1%) 1.31pm GMT City analyst Louise Cooper has analysed the US-China trade deal, and concluded that Xi Jinping and Liu He have done Donald Trump up like a kipper.She reckons that most of China’s ‘concessions’ actually suit Beijing jolly nicely (you can read the agreement here). In a trade agreement of just 46 written pages, four pages are for dairy and infant formula! That is extraordinary. And it reflects Beijing’s concerns not the interests of America!FYI China had a baby milk formula scandal over a decade ago that saw Chinese babies die. 22 Chinese companies were involved and still now Chinese parents don’t trust Chinese made formula:This section is two pages long because many American companies will decide it is a worthwhile trade to do this. And it is very difficult to police. Which company would complain to Washington if they knew their complaint would get back to Beijing and they may be restricted from operating in the country for years?I believe this trade agreement reflects the man. His inability to read much documentation, his short attention span, his inability to look into detail. But still to believe in his own brilliance and expertise.my thoughts on Trump’s trade deal..Beijing dominated.Trump got little.https://t.co/E4AxbezdqT Continue reading…
Via: Recession warning for German industry; US-China trade deal doubts – business live
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