What Was Said

“Nobody has ever seen anything like it. This is the biggest deal there is anywhere in the world by far and that is good. We are doing another big one next week. But this is the biggest deal anybody has ever seen.”

— President Trump, at the signing of the initial trade deal with China on Wednesday

False. When the United States reached a preliminary trade agreement with Mexico in 2018, President Trump inaccurately lauded it as the “maybe the largest trade deal ever made.” He used a similar description while signing the initial trade agreement with China on Wednesday. It was also not true.

Under this agreement, China committed to purchasing an additional $200 billion worth of American goods and services within two years and to stop forcing American companies to hand over valuable intellectual property to Chinese firms. The deal also leaves in place tariffs on almost two-thirds of American imports from China, and more than half of Chinese imports from the United States. Critics also faulted the deal for failing to address issues like China’s subsidies to its state-owned enterprises.

Mr. Trump has characterized the agreement as the first phase in ongoing negotiations, so the size and breadth of the final product remains to be seen. But for now, the China deal is smaller than even the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement. Trade between the United States and its two neighbors totaled $1.4 trillion in 2018, compared with $737 billion between the United States and China.