They still had a free-trade agreement.
Agreements don't mean anything except in the US, Canada, parts of the European Union, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and a couple of other countries.
Non-tariff barriers are way pretty effective in slowing trade:
US could easily block any food imports until pests are no longer an issue in Chinese food supply chain. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/08/voracious-pest-threatens-chi...
US could easily block any products from factories that haven't passed US safety inspections. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-pharmaceuticals-ch...