After nearly two years of conflict between the world's top two economic powers, the United States and China signed a trade truce on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump hailed the deal as a breakthrough and a momentous step towards future trade that will be fair and reciprocal.
The "phase one" agreement included pledges from China to beef up purchases of American crops and other exports for two years, provides some protections for US technology, and new enforcement mechanisms that allow Washington to quickly impose penalties, which Beijing cannot respond to.
But tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in goods remain in place on two-thirds of the over $500 billion in imports from China, leaving US consumers and businesses to foot the bill.
Trump Signs China Deal, Halting Trade War That Hurt Global Growth Source: The New York Times
President Trump has talked up the significance of the deal.
"This is something that's going to be so special, however, to our manufacturers, our farmers, our bankers, our service people," he said.
"Nobody's ever seen anything like it. This is the biggest deal there is anywhere in the world by far."
Markets surge
The easing of US-China trade frictions has boosted stock markets worldwide in recent weeks, as it takes the threat of new tariffs off the table for now, and Wall Street hit new records after the signing.
Gold and silver rose, palladium soared to a record high and platinum to its highest level in nearly two years.
There was a surge for Australian stocks, surpassing the 7,000 level because of investor confidence attributed to the trade deal between the US and China.
Mr Trump signed the deal with China's Vice Premier Liu He, who has led Beijing's negotiations with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
"This is a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement," Mr Liu said.
"It will bring about stable economic growth, promote world peace and prosperity and is in the interest of the producers, consumers and investors in both countries," he said.
However, the most difficult issues remain to be dealt with in "phase two" negotiations, including massive subsidies for state industry.
"A huge amount of this is a reset," said Chad Bown, a trade expert with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"A lot of these elements are locking in things that were already there, or already in train before."
And the absence of any provision on China's industrial subsidies leaves "a big giant gaping hole that has not been addressed," Mr Bown told reporters.
The trade war had lasted for months and began when the US imposed tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018.
The US cancelled a damaging round of new tariffs that were due to kick in during December and also promised to slash in half the 15 per cent tariffs on $120 billion imposed in September on consumer goods like clothing.
That reduction will take effect in 30 days, when the deal comes into force, a senior administration official told reporters.
But Mr Bown noted that the average US tariff on China over the course of trade war has surged from three percent at the beginning of 2018 to over 19 per cent, even after the phase one deal.
Vice Premier Liu acknowledged the challenges faced during negotiations.
"Over the past two years, the two sides encountered some difficulties in the economic and trade fields.
"At times, there were setbacks in our trade talks because on some issues we don't see eye to eye. However, our two economic teams did not give up", he said.
Cautious optimism and criticism
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer has criticised the deal, arguing there will be little for businesses to gain.
"I greatly fear that President Xi is laughing at us behind our backs, for having given away so little at the expense of American workers, farmers and businesses."
"The administration, in order to get a deal at all costs before the 2020 election, has thrown the American worker and American business overboard and they are going to be the ones left to face the consequences," he said.
Mr Schumer has urged Mr Trump to return to the negotiating table to better protect US workers.
"The President's trade deal with China is a severe and potentially irreparable loss for the American people, American businesses and American workers.
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told CNN the agreement is reasonable, but there is more work to be done on phase two.
"The language on phase two negotiations is chalk and cheese in Beijing and Washington," he said.
Kevin Rudd weighs into Australia-China relations Source: SBS
"In Beijing it's 'some time in the future when we've finally implemented phase one'. What the President (Trump) said this morning is 'we are going to do it next week'."
President Trump has repeatedly touted the trade pact as a boon for American farmers, who were hit hard by the tariff war.
Soybean exports to China plunged to just $3 billion from more than $12 billion in 2017 and the Trump administration paid out $28 billion in aid to farmers in the last two years.
Phase two will likely focus on technology and cyber security issues.
Additional reporting by AAP and AFP.
