BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The just-signed China-U.S. phase-one economic and trade agreement has met the expectations of the international community, and will inspire confidence in the world economy and bring stability to global investment and trade, experts and officials have said.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said she sincerely congratulates China and the United States on the signing of the agreement, which injects stability into the two countries and the world economy.
It is beneficial not only to the economies of the two countries, but also to the world economy, she added.
China and the United States formally signed their phase-one economic and trade agreement in Washington on Wednesday, with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. President Donald Trump inking the papers at the White House.
The agreement ranges from expanding bilateral trade in such sectors as agricultural products, manufactured goods, energy, and service, further broadening market access, to enhancing the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights.
The two sides also agree to establish a bilateral mechanism for two-way assessment and dispute settlement, and the United States has pledged to cancel some of its additional tariffs on Chinese products, marking a policy change from hiking to cutting additional tariffs.
The signing of the deal, a hard-won phased outcome for the U.S.-initiated trade tensions with China, is a positive first step for resolving the economic and trade issues between the world's top two economies.
"Everybody is welcoming the trade deal. I think it's important that we try and understand the trade deal first, and then we are made aware of what phase two is," Peter Tuchman, an experienced trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, told Xinhua.
"The formality of it all clearly gives some confidence that this is a real deal," he said.
"It's probably the most realistic approach" to solve the issues step by step, given the complexity of the U.S.-China trade tensions, Nicholas Lardy, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Xinhua.
Bob Huff, a retired California State Senator and State Senate Republican Leader Emeritus, told Xinhua that the agreement will benefit the two countries who are both heavily dependent on trade.
The part of the deal on better protection of IP rights has positive implications for both nations, as China showed its will and capability to be a more dynamic and innovation-led economy, Huff added.
"U.S. business confidence can improve" with the implementation of the agreement, Stephen Gallagher, chief U.S. economist at the French multinational investment bank Societe Generale, told Xinhua.
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