The U.S. and China are inching closer to an agreement on trade that could be reached this month, according to those close to the talks.
Bloomberg reports an agreement could be reached and finalized later this month during a planned summit between China’s President and President Donald Trump. As part of the potential agreement, China would lower tariffs on agricultural products.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at the 2019 Commodity Classic last week told reporters, a “magnificent conclusion to the U.S.-China negotiations will involve doubling and tripling our farm exports to China.” Perdue also said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for a final agreement.
President Trump put off a planned round of tariff increases to start the month. However, the U.S. wants to continue to have the threat of tariffs as leverage to ensure China will comply with any agreement.
President Donald Trump has asked China to immediately remove all tariffs on U.S. agricultural products because trade talks are going well between the two nations. Trump also delayed plans to impose more tariffs on China last week, scheduled as a motivator to conduct negotiations. The request to remove agriculture tariffs includes beef, pork, soybeans and others. Trump called the request “very important for our great farmers.” The tariffs are part of the tit-for-tat trade war last year when China retaliated over U.S. tariffs by targeting agriculture.
Earlier this year, Derek Haigwood, a representative of the American Soybean Association, said he expects to see the impact of trade issues in the next, 2018/2019, marketing year. That’s because shipments to China virtually halted when the trade war began.
Despite the trade woes in the 2017/2018 marketing year, farmers exported a record 2.6 billion bushels of U.S. soy and soy products.
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasters