US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he had a “very good talk” with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on a partial resolution of the countries’ huge trade war.

Taking to Twitter, President Trump said that China “already started large scale” increases in purchases of US farm goods, in line with the deal. However, he did not give a date for when the so-called “phase one” agreement will actually be signed.

Advertisement

Had a very good talk with President Xi of China concerning our giant Trade Deal. China has already started large scale purchaes of agricultural product & more. Formal signing being arranged. Also talked about North Korea, where we are working with China, & Hong Kong (progress!).

Advertisement

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2019

“Formal signing being arranged”, Trump further posted.

Earlier on Friday, President Xi Jinping said that phase one economic and trade deal between China and the US does not only benefits the two economic.

Xi Jinping spoke to his US counterpart Donald Trump over the phone and noted that the countries have reached the phase-one agreement on the basis of the principle of equality and mutual respect giants but also the whole world.

The “phase one” is a partial resolution that is expected to see China boost imports of US agricultural and other goods, while Washington has eased massive tariffs on Chinese imports.

Trump said he and Xi also discussed North Korea, which is resisting US-led pressure to dismantle its increasingly sophisticated nuclear program, and also the pro-democracy unrest in Hong Kong, where Trump noted “progress!”

According to the two countries, the phase one agreement addresses issues including technology transfer, intellectual property, trade expansion and the establishment of mechanisms for dispute resolution.

Last month, China and the US were “moving closer to agreeing” on a “phase one” trade deal.

On Saturday, US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said an initial trade deal with China was still possible by the end of the year. He said it would be “a good sign” if the Hong Kong elections took place without violence.

China had called for a rollback of existing tariffs, to which Trump has said he did not agree. American officials want large purchases of US farm exports.

In September, the US had imposed fresh tariffs on $112 billion worth of Chinese imported goods, marking a sharp escalation of the bruising trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Donald Trump launched the trade war as part of his “America First” bid to lower a wide trade deficit with China, but the tariffs imposed thus far have barely made a dent in that gap.