IT'S JUST A FIGHT OVER NAMING RIGHTS:

The phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China signed in Washington on Wednesday is notable not for what it includes, but for what it omits, according to international trade experts.

"Phase one is not a trade agreement but just puts an end to costly escalation that was going nowhere," said Peter Petri, a professor of international finance at the Brandeis International Business School.

The agreement focuses heavily on a commitment by China for purchases of $200 billion worth of U.S. farm products and other exports, with much less emphasis on the bigger issues standing between the two countries. The two sides also agreed to restart semi-annual meetings to discuss economic reform and dispute resolution.

In a highly unusual move, the administration did not make the actual agreement available ahead of the signing, as is customary -- raising some skepticism about the enforcement mechanisms contained in the text. "I'm looking at the technology transfer and intellectual property provisions to see what the specific enforcement mechanisms are. My question is, how is this going to work?" said Dean A. Pinkert, senior counsel at the law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed and a former commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission.

"The two sides have reached a deal simply by avoiding the difficult issues like intellectual property protection in China," said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics. "China has no desire to change the way its economy operates."

"It doesn't so far include anything that is related to the entire issues surrounding Huawei, 5G, export controls, or a host of new technologies," said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "More importantly, there is nothing here concerning Chinese subsidies and I think that, in many ways, is the big omission," he said. "If you're worried about China as a long-term tech competitor, then clearly the logic of that argument rests with the fact that the Chinese are quote-unquote rigging the system through state-owned subsidies."

Tweet   @brothersjudd