A new U. S.-China trade truce is welcome news, say Iowa farm leaders, but few expect to see an immediate bump in soybean or pork…
A new U. S.-China trade truce is welcome news, say Iowa farm leaders, but few expect to see an immediate bump in soybean or pork exports to Beijing despite assurances from China that it will purchase “a very substantial” amount of American goods.
“Any positive news is good,” said Kirk Leeds, CEO of the Iowa Soybean Association, about President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Group of 20 summit in Argentina over the weekend.
“That meeting could have gone the other way — it could have turned into a meeting they walked out of without issuing a joint statement,” Leeds said. “The fact that there was clearly a positive conversation is reason to be optimistic.”
Trump and Xi reached a trade cease-fire agreement that will give negotiators 90 days to start structuring a new trade pact.
During that time, the U. S. will halt plans to increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent, and China will purchase “a very substantial amount of American agriculture, energy and industrial goods” to cut the trade imbalance between the countries, the White House said.
The goods include soybeans, beef, oranges, pistachios and red wine — but not pork.
