On The Money: Trump, China announce ‘Phase One’ trade deal | Supreme Court takes up fight over Trump financial records | House panel schedules hearing, vote on new NAFTA deal

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THE BIG DEAL: Trump, China announce ‘Phase One’ trade deal–President Trump and China on Friday announced that they had reached a “phase one” trade deal that would see a reduction in tariffs from both sides and increase China’s purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

“We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China,” Trump announced on Twitter, adding that negotiations on “Phase 2” of the deal would begin immediately, rather than after the 2020 election.

Trump and his administration pushed back at reports that he had agreed to halve the tariffs on billions of Chinese imports.

• An announcement from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer specified that the U.S. would keep 25 percent tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese imports, but drop the rate to roughly 7.5 percent tariffs on another $120 billion in imports.

• The deal also scrapped a new round of 15 percent tariffs scheduled to go into effect on an additional $156 billion of imports starting Sunday.

• Trump administration officials later said that China had committed to purchasing between $40 and $50 billion in agricultural goods over the next two years.

The Hill’s Niv Elis breaks down the deal here.

Reactions:

• “He has sold out for a temporary and unreliable promise from China to purchase some soybeans.” — Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

• “This is a promising step towards addressing the inequities and imbalances in our trade relationship with China.” — Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

• “What on earth did Trump put us through this economic hell for?” — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

• “I remain cautiously optimistic that the suspension of Sunday’s planned tariff hikes and reduction on existing tariffs will provide needed stability for our economy.” — Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

LEADING THE DAY

Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump appeals in fight over financial records: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear appeals from President Trump in three cases involving efforts to gain access to his financial records, setting up a landmark separation of powers showdown.

The justices will hear arguments in March in cases that pit Trump against Democratic-led House committees, as well as a Manhattan district attorney.

A blockbuster ruling on the extent of congressional oversight authority and presidential power is expected before July, just months ahead of Election Day. The Hill’s John Kruzel explains here.

The dispute: The Supreme Court consolidated three cases in which Trump appealed to shield his financial records from disclosure after losses in lower courts.Two cases involve financial records subpoenas from Democratic lawmakers. 

• In one, the House Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, for years of Trump’s personal and corporate financial records.

• In another, the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Capital One for a broad range of financial documents related to President Trump and his businesses.

A third case involves a subpoena from Manhattan prosecutors against Mazars USA for Trump’s personal and corporate financial records, including tax returns, from 2011 to 2018.

House panel to hold hearing, vote on Trump’s new NAFTA proposal: The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a markup of President Trump’s proposed North American trade deal update next Tuesday, setting up a Thursday vote by the full chamber.

The panel with House jurisdiction over trade policy will hold a hearing on Trump’s updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Dec. 17, a Ways and Means spokeswoman announced Friday. 

Ways and Means members are likely to approve the deal, called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), by a wide bipartisan margin. The House is scheduled to vote on the deal Thursday, a day after Democrats are expected to pass articles of impeachment against Trump.

The White House formally submitted the implementing language on Friday, which was introduced as a bill soon after by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Read more: Green groups urge lawmakers to oppose USMCA

GOOD TO KNOW

• The House is expected to vote next week on a bill to temporarily repeal the GOP tax law’s cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.

• The payroll data of around 29,000 current and former Facebook employees was stolen as part of a theft last month of several hard drives from an employee’s car, according to Bloomberg News. 

• A bipartisan bill to protect patients from surprise medical bills is not expected to pass this year due to sharp divisions over the legislation, according to congressional aides in both parties. 

• House Democrats’ bill to lower drug prices would raise wages for people on employer-sponsored health insurance by $116 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Recap the week with On The Money: 

• Monday: White House, Democrats edge closer to North American trade deal | GOP worries about Trump concessions | DOJ argues Congress can’t sue Trump on emoluments | Former Fed chief Volcker dies

• Tuesday: Pelosi, Trump tout deal on new NAFTA | McConnell says no trade vote until impeachment trial wraps up | Lawmakers push spending deadline to Thursday

• Wednesday: Fed holds rates steady in end to challenging year | Powell says deal on new NAFTA could settle economic jitters | CEOs’ economic outlook drops for seventh straight quarter

• Thursday: Lawmakers strike spending deal | US, China reach limited trade deal ahead of tariff deadline | Lighthizer fails to quell GOP angst over new NAFTA