China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that it is willing to buy more US agricultural products, but only if both sides implement their reciprocal tariff-reduction agreement. Spokesperson Huang Ling said Beijing had consistently shown openness to expanding such purchases.
Huang put the condition in direct terms: the deal is “30 billion dollars for 30 billion dollars”. Beijing’s side of the package is therefore tied to the US delivering its half.
What the package contains
After the September summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Washington, both sides proposed a reciprocal tariff-reduction package worth US$60 billion. The plan includes about US$17 billion of US agricultural products that China would import in 2024. It has not yet been finalised.
The White House said in May that China had agreed to buy US$17 billion of US agricultural products annually from 2026. Market operators have said lower tariffs would be needed before large-scale purchases become commercially viable.
Purchases so far
China is on track to meet its soybean purchase commitment made in October last year. Imports of non-soybean farm products are at their lowest for the period since 2019. Reuters calculated that China bought US$7.2 billion of non-soybean US agricultural products between January and September.
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The two sides have set up an agricultural working group, which is expected to meet before year-end.
Source: China's Ministry of Commerce
