China plays up purchases of US farm goods in positive spin on trade talks
- Beijing says it is on the ‘same page’ as Washington in seeing progress in their 15-month-old dispute
- Foreign ministry says the country will speed up orders for American agricultural products
China talked up progress on trade with the US on Tuesday, highlighting bulk purchases of American farm products it had already made this year and saying that it was “on the same page” as Washington in negotiations.
Asked if the two countries agreed on the degree of progress from two days of high-level talks in Washington last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said: “China and the US are on the same page and have no difference in the stance on reaching a trade deal.
“This trade deal is going to carry very important meaning to China, the US and the world, it will be beneficial for world trade and world peace.”
Geng added that China would speed up purchases of American agricultural products.
“Chinese enterprises have independently bought US agricultural products in line with domestic demand since the start of this year,” he said.
Those purchases included “20 million tonnes of soybeans, 700,000 tonnes of pork, 700,000 tonnes of sorghum, 230,000 tonnes of wheat and 320,000 tonnes of cotton”, Geng said without offering figures for previous years.