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POLITICO

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Adam Behsudi on politico.com on July 23, 2019.
White House senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday the administration hopes China will begin “very soon” to make significant purchases of US agricultural goods as a goodwill gesture – and ultimately as part of a final trade deal.
“I’m going to play that on the optimistic side. Going over there is a very good sign,” Kudlow told reporters.
He confirmed that a senior US official will travel to China for the first face-to-face meeting of top negotiators since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed late last month to restart trade talks that had stalled in May.




US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke over the phone with their Chinese counterparts on Thursday, which resulted in a trip to China being planned for next week.
A US official confirmed a Bloomberg report on Tuesday that Lighthizer would travel to Shanghai to meet Chinese officials Monday through Wednesday of next week. Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan will lead the talks for Beijing.
A White House spokesperson referred questions about the trip to the Office of the US Trade Representative, which did not respond to an inquiry.
Trump said he secured a commitment from Xi at the G20 meeting last month that Beijing would buy more US farm goods, but those purchases have yet to fully materialise.
Chinese firms want tariff exemptions to buy US agricultural goods
Trump has long viewed massive purchases of agricultural goods by China as a vital part of negotiations to end the trade war, which the US launched to address policies and practices the administration says result in the forced transfer of US technology and theft of intellectual property.
“We haven’t had a guarantee of that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t [see] a lot of positive news on that coming up,” Kudlow said about the potential for new agricultural purchases.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Beijing has made some agricultural purchases, but not enough.
“As you all know, there has been a 20-million-metric-ton commitment on soybeans. I think the latest numbers I saw this week, I think we were up to 13.67 [million], if I recall directly,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “So they still have a ways to go, and that’s what the president is reminding them of as well.”

Kudlow said the administration wants the talks to return to where they were in early May, before US officials say China altered a draft text by rejecting US demands that Beijing amend its laws to meet commitments such as prohibitions against forcing US companies to surrender technology as a condition of doing business in the Chinese market.
It is not known whether China will return to the previous version of the text. It also still unclear whether China is willing to fully agree to US demands that Beijing make deep structural changes to a state-run economic model which the US contends steals American innovation and technology.
China has also laid out demands that a deal must be balanced, result in full removal of tariffs on more than US$250 million worth of exports to the US, and that expectations of Chinese purchases of agricultural goods be realistic.
China, US said to be wrangling over text before trade talks can resume
US treatment of blacklisted Chinese telecommunications company Huawei has also added a new wrinkle in the talks. People close to the talks have said the US has been reluctant to ease up on its crackdown against Huawei until China resumes purchasing US farm goods.
The Chinese government has been pressing the US to remove the tech giant from the Commerce Department’s so-called Entity List, which effectively prohibits US companies from doing business with the firm.
US semiconductor companies that count Huawei as a major customer have been pressuring the administration to at least grant waivers that would allow them to resume certain transactions.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday the department has received 50 applications for waivers from 35 companies, and that decisions would be made “within the next few weeks.”

Kudlow said a meeting at the White House on Monday between Trump and chief executives from major tech companies, including Google, Intel and Qualcomm, was “really positive”. Trump agreed during the meeting to a timely process for considering export waivers.
Kudlow said the administration still has “enormous national security concerns” about Huawei, which has been accused of doing the Chinese government’s bidding in the foreign markets it serves, as well as violating US sanctions against Iran and North Korea. He said the company remains on the Entity List.
“We’ll move ahead and process applications for telecom sales, chip-related sales that do not impinge on the national security concerns,” he said. “If you can buy this stuff elsewhere outside the United States, then we’re OK with it from our own people.”
Eliana Johnson and Liz Crampton contributed to this report.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/23/us-trade-china-farm-kudlow-3629137


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US trade trip to China fuels optimism Beijing will resume farm purchases

A red combine harvests wheat near the border of eastern Washington and Oregon in July 2013. Photo: AP

FILE - In this file photo taken Wednesday, May 1, 2019, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, gestures as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, chats with his Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, before they proceed to their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. President Donald Trump turned up the pressure on China on Sunday, May 5, threatening to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump's comments, delivered on Twitter, came as a Chinese delegation was scheduled to resume talks in Washington on Wednesday aimed at resolving a trade war that has shaken financial markets and cast gloom over the world economy.(AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool, File)

White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow speaks with reporters, Tuesday, July 23, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Global growth will improve to 3.5 per cent in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund. Photo: AP

Zhong Shan, China's Commerce Minister, is pictured at the Press Center of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing. 11MAR18 SCMP / Simon Song

China, the world’s second largest economy, has been the target of increased tariffs by US President Donald Trump for over a year, with US$250 billion Chinese goods now covered by 25 per cent levies. Photo: AFP

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US will deal with Huawei waiver applications within weeks, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says

A Huawei logo in central Warsaw, Poland, in June. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce speaks during the Milken Institute's 22nd annual Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

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US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expected to travel to Shanghai on Monday



US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expected to travel to Shanghai on Monday.
