After two rounds of trade talks between the world’s largest economies, China has promised to buy significantly more U.S. agriculture and energy products to help reduce its trade surplus with America.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin outlined his targets for boosting sales over the weekend but it remains unclear if China has agreed to reduce the deficit by the $200 billion that the Trump Administration has been asking for. Mnuchin told Fox News Sunday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be going into China looking for hard commitments in agriculture, “where we expect to see a very big increase, 35-40 percent increases, in agriculture this year alone.”
In the meantime, Politico says the U.S. will hold off on its threat to slap tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese goods as a way to deter intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers.
A joint statement from the two countries issued over the weekend didn’t specify whether or not the two countries would back off on penalties already imposed relating to the administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.