In late 2019, China pledged reforms of its Intellectual
Property law, a move that played a major part in curtailing the
U.S.-China trade war. More than a year later, the degree to which
those promised reforms are actually implemented may well have
similarly large effects on the nations' relationship.
The U.S. and China were indisputably the two largest parties in
the global trade war that consumed much of the last several years.
Particularly between early 2018 and late 2019, it seemed as if one
could hardly go a week, if that, without hearing something about
tariffs, exports, imports, steel, soybeans, then-President Donald
Trump, President Xi Jinping and the like. Accusations regarding
violations of Intellectual Property law were among the
biggest flashpoints, and ultimately, China announced new
regulations concerning IP protection in November 2019 as a
conciliatory move.
