Trump says China to buy 'massive amounts' of US farm products
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said China had pledged to buy “massive amounts” of American agricultural products but gave no other details about planned commitments from Beijing following U.S.-China trade talks last week.
“Fair Trade, plus, with China will happen!” Trump wrote in a series of posts on Twitter that came a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a trade war between the world’s largest economies was “on hold.”
“China has agreed to buy massive amounts of ADDITIONAL Farm/Agricultural Products - would be one of the best things to happen to our farmers in many years!” Trump wrote. “On China, Barriers and Tariffs to come down for first time,” he added.
China has agreed to buy massive amounts of ADDITIONAL Farm/Agricultural Products - would be one of the best things to happen to our farmers in many years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018
On China, Barriers and Tariffs to come down for first time.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018
China must continue to be strong & tight on the Border of North Korea until a deal is made. The word is that recently the Border has become much more porous and more has been filtering in. I want this to happen, and North Korea to be VERY successful, but only after signing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018
Under our potential deal with China, they will purchase from our Great American Farmers practically as much as our Farmers can produce.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2018
Trump offered no specifics about what steps U.S. and Chinese officials had agreed to after talks on Thursday and Friday in Washington. The negotiations followed earlier meetings in Beijing aimed at diffusing the trade spat spurred by the Trump administration’s threat to slap tariffs on Chinese goods, and a counterproposal by China to levy U.S products.
Over the weekend, Beijing and Washington pledged to keep talking about how China could import more energy and agricultural commodities from the United States to narrow the $335 billion annual U.S. goods and services trade deficit with China.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)