U.S. and China sign "phase one" trade agreement

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Dan Primack: The deal seems to basically be an agriculture purchase agreement — and does little to address the core issues that the president supposedly cares about.

• China wanted and needed to purchase agricultural goods anyway.
• The initial agreement also suspended a planned round of December tariffs by the U.S., but that decision didn't have an impact on American consumers during the holiday season, as those goods had already been imported.

Worth noting: Chinese President Xi Jinping is not in Washington for the occasion — but he did have Liu read a personal letter from him at the event.

• Trump said in a New Year's Eve tweet that he would head to Beijing "at a later date" to begin talks for the "phase two" deal.

• The president riffed for over 30 minutes before signing the deal — thanking dozens of politicians and CEOs by name who were scattered around the room.

Read the full agreement — the first time the text has been publicly released:

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