China has confirmed its "commitment to increase purchases of United States agricultural exports," the White House said Wednesday, one day after President Donald Trump lashed out at Beijing for keeping him waiting on that front.
The statement came at the conclusion of two days of meetings in Shanghai between teams led by U.
S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. Those discussions were the first since talks broke down in May, after the United States accused China of backtracking on earlier commitments it made earlier."The meetings were constructive," the White House said in a statement. "We expect negotiations on an enforceable trade deal to continue in Washington, D.C., in early September."
The release, however, did not elaborate on what type of goods would be purchased or any time frame for the agriculture sales. American soybean exports to China have been nearly cut off since the escalation of trade tariffs last year, while U.S. pork exporters are especially eager to see export gains after African swine fever has devastated pig herds in China.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at the G-20 leaders meeting in late June to restart negotiations, and Trump later told reporters that he expected to China to immediately begin making major purchases of agricultural products. However, on Tuesday he
U.S. farm exports to China are estimated to be the lowest in years as a result of China's retaliation to Trump's tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods. The U.S. Agriculture Department currently forecasts U.S. farm exports to China at just $6.5 billion in fiscal 2019, which ends Sept. 30. That's down from $16.3 billion in fiscal 2018 and more than $20 billion annually when Barack Obama was president.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan were also part of the talks in Shanghai, which focused on U.S. concerns about forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights protection, services, non-tariff barriers, and agriculture, the White House said.
The Shanghai meeting was the 12th round of negotiations since Trump and Xi initially agreed last December to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement. However, there are growing expectations, fed in part by Trump's own comments, that a deal between the two countries might not be reached until after next year's presidential election.
The U.S.-China Business Council, which represents American companies that have operations in China, said it welcomed the two countries' decision to re-engage, as well as the progress on agricultural purchases.
But it also called for the countries "to take a pragmatic and realistic approach to compromise," while pushing for a conclusion that opens China's market to more foreign goods, improves the protection and enforcement of intellectual property and levels the playing field for foreign companies operating in the market.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine