Financial markets were cheered recently by the news that the United States and China have reached a “phase one” deal to prevent further escalation of their bilateral trade war. But there is actually very little to cheer about.

In exchange for China’s tentative commitment to buy more US agricultural (and some other) goods, and modest concessions on intellectual property rights and the renminbi, the US agreed to withhold tariffs on another $US160 billion ($232 billion) worth of Chinese exports, and to roll back some of the tariffs introduced on September 1.