The United States expects China to commit to buying “several tens of billions” of dollars worth of American agricultural products following a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing, said U.S. Commerce Representative Jamieson Greer on Friday.
Greer mentioned the agreement for 25 million tons of soybeans per year reached last October and stated that the U.S. also anticipates “to see emerge from this visit an agreement for purchases of agricultural products amounting to several tens of billions of dollars per year over the next three years”.
“And this is more general, it’s a global figure. It’s not just about soybeans, but everything else,” he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Furthermore, Mr. Trump stated in an interview broadcast on Thursday night on Fox News’ “Hannity” show that “China will buy a lot of our agricultural products”.
It was not immediately clear which products would be involved or if soybeans would be part of these “several tens of billions” in purchases, but traders and analysts expected the existing soybean commitment to be part of the agreement, representing more than $10 billion alone.
Soybeans are the top product exported by the United States to China, by far the largest global buyer, and these oilseeds have played a key role in trade negotiations during the first and second terms of Trump.
Greer said China was meeting its soybean purchase commitments and Washington expected most of the additional purchases to occur by the end of the year.
“A two-digit number means nothing, but the word ‘later’ means that China will not buy beans from the previous harvest,” said an Asia-based trader.
In February, Trump mentioned the possibility of China buying an additional 8 million tons from the just-completed U.S. harvest, although traders stated such sales were now highly unlikely.
As the summit approached, markets did not expect Beijing to raise its soybean purchase target beyond 25 million tons, a forecast reinforced by comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday, suggesting the existing agreement settled the matter.
Traders closely monitor any reduction in soybean tariffs, which could allow Chinese private soybean crushers to resume purchases of American soybeans after being virtually sidelined from the U.S. harvest last year due to high tariffs. At the time, state-owned agribusinesses were the only active buyers.
