China putting US tensions over Hong Kong aside to subtly, quietly implement phase one trade deal

Name: Trump administration bans Chinese passenger airlines from flying to US destinations
Uploaded: 2020-06-05T10:00:14.000Z
Duration: 1 min 39 s
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China has increased its purchases of US farm products, although it is lagging far behind the commitment for agricultural purchases in the phase one trade deal

Beijing has also transferred responsibility for the purchases to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, suggesting they are no longer a political task

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As part of the phase one trade deal signed in January, China agreed to buy an additional US$200 billion of American goods and services over the following two years. Photo: EPA-EFE

Orange Wang

Published: 6:00pm, 5 Jun 2020Updated: 9:30pm, 5 Jun 2020

China appears to be quietly moving ahead with implementing the phase one trade deal with the United States despite the continuing deterioration in relations between the two countries.

In a subtle move behind the scenes, Beijing has shifted the day-to-day authority over China’s purchases of US farm products, such as soybeans, to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs from the Ministry of Commerce, according to sources and government documents.

An official at the Ministry of Commerce, who declined to be identified, confirmed agricultural product purchases were now in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment.

The Commerce Ministry, which was the key ministry supporting the trade negotiations with the US headed by Vice-Premier Liu He, is not directly involved in the arrangements for purchase volume or shipments of US farm products, the official said.

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The adjustment suggests that authority to make the purchases of an additional US$32 billion in agricultural goods required by the trade deal is now seen as more of a bureaucratic task of combining domestic demand with market conditions rather than a political task.

Beijing still sees the deal as an important way to display goodwill even as tensions between Beijing and Washington continue to escalate on other issues, including the national security law in Hong Kong and the origin of the coronavirus, analysts said.

The change in authority over China’s purchase of US farm goods means that China’s state-owned grain importers could be subject to more intensive and technical directives from the Agriculture Ministry, which, given its remit, is more sensitive in responding to domestic demand and supply conditions, as well as prices from different suppliers, analysts added.