China yet to meet Donald Trump’s demand to purchase more farm goods as US-China trade crumbles
- The US trade deficit with China expanded from US$26.90 billion in May to US$29.92 billion in June, an increase of 11 per cent
- American figures show that since a ‘goodwill’ purchase of soybeans before the G20 summit, China’s purchases of US farm goods have declined
Despite the demand by US President Donald Trump that China buy more American agricultural products, new numbers released on Friday show that Beijing is not seeking to address the issue.
Such purchases have become a critical bone of contention in the bilateral trading relationship. A year ago, a large-scale purchase of soybeans, pork or grains seemed to be the easiest “win” for either side in the trade war, since it would help reduce the large US trade deficit with China, while allowing Beijing to divert focus from the structural changes in its economy that Washington was demanding, such as reform of state-owned enterprises.
Now, however, China is believed to be refusing to allow large-scale agricultural purchases until it has clarity on the US Entity List, which left Chinese firms such as Huawei subject to import blacklists, freezing them out of vital US-made technology.
The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that Chinese sources said Trump pressed Xi during their summit meeting last month for a promise to buy more US farm products, but China’s president refused to make a firm commitment.