US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) said that he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in four weeks, with the soybean issue to be a significant topic of their discussion.
He noted that farmers of the United States are being “hurt” as China, for “negotiating reasons”, is not “buying” Soyabean and vowed to stand behind them.
What did Donald Trump Say?
In his post, Trump repeated a promise to use proceeds from tariff revenues to help farmers.
“The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for “negotiating” reasons only, not buying. We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers. I WILL NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN! Sleepy Joe Biden didn’t enforce our Agreement with China, where they were going to purchase Billions of Dollars of our Farm Product, but Soybeans, in particular. It’s all going to work out very well. I LOVE OUR PATRIOTS, AND EVERY FARMER IS EXACTLY THAT! I’ll be meeting with President Xi, of China, in four weeks, and Soybeans will be a major topic of discussion. MAKE SOYBEANS, AND OTHER ROW CROPS, GREAT AGAIN!”
Chinese importers have yet to purchase soybeans from the U.S. autumn harvest amid the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, resulting in billions of dollars in lost sales for American farmers.
Autumn is typically the peak marketing season for US soybeans as farmers harvest fresh crops. However, China, the world’s largest soybean buyer, has shifted its purchases to South America, which has put downward pressure on U.S. soybean prices, Reuters reported.
U.S. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, a Republican, said after a Tuesday briefing with U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue that he did not believe there was a set timeline for China to resume buying U.S. soybeans.
“He didn’t indicate to me sales are imminent,” Hoeven said in an interview. “The discussion was more, we need to keep the pressure on until we get sales, and in the meantime be supportive of our farmers.”
Last month, Trump said he and Xi agreed during a call to meet face-to-face in South Korea to discuss a trade conflict that has kept the countries bitterly at odds. The two leaders are set to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum during the last week of October in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Trump also said he would visit China early next year and that Xi would come to the U.S. at a later date.
Efforts by the countries to lower trade tensions have led to expectations that China could direct more agricultural purchases to the U.S. as part of a deal with Trump.
“Right now, they’re buying from South America and using that to try to put pressure on us in these trade negotiations,” Hoeven said.
In 2020, during Trump’s first term in office, he signed a trade deal with China that included promises to buy tens of billions of dollars in U.S. agricultural products while expanding U.S. access to Chinese agriculture markets.
China never met its agreed purchase targets under the deal, and it has sought to diversify its food sources.
“The essence of China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington. “As a matter of principle, we hope the U.S. side will work with China to implement the important common understandings reached by our heads of state in their phone call.”
(With inputs from agencies)