US and China sign agreement to soothe trade tensions

The US and China have signed an agreement to solve a trade war that has disturbed markets and weighed on the global economy.

Key points of the deal are:

• China has committed to increasing its US imports by at least $200bn over 2017 levels, boosting purchases of agriculture by $32bn, manufacturing by $78bn, energy by $52bn and services by $38bn.
• China has agreed to take more action against counterfeiting and make it easier for companies to pursue legal action over trade secret theft
• The US will maintain up to 25% tariffs on an estimated $360bn worth of Chinese goods; China, which has levied new tariffs on $100bn worth of US products, is also expected to maintain the majority of them