China is still falling short of meeting an agreement to reduce its U.S. trade surplus China’s purchases of U.S. goods are still falling short of trade agreement levels, even as overall Chinese imports from the U.S. have surged. That’s according to analysis out Monday from the U.S.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. In January 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic and under former U.S. President Donald Trump, China agreed to buy at least $200 billion more in U.S. goods and services over the next two years, relative to the 2017 level. Known as the phase one trade deal, the purchase agreement included specific agriculture, energy and manufactured products.