Ag Negotiator: $80 Billion in Purchases “Doable” for China

The Phase One trade agreement between China and the U.S. has the two nations in “close contact” as they work toward getting the deal finally signed. U.S. Chief Ag Negotiator Gregg Doud said the agreement between the world’s two largest economies will mean big numbers of Chinese agricultural purchases of U.S. ag commodities. He recently told Farm Journal that, “China’s purchase commitment is built upon a base year of $24 billion in ag purchases, which occurred in 2017. What China has agreed to do is buy an additional $32 billion over the next two years on top of that $24 billion mark.”

Doud acknowledged there are those people who say China’s potential purchase levels will be hard to reach. However, he said that it doesn’t take into account some of the new structural changes in the agreement.

“China imported $124 billion in ag products last year from around the world,” Doud said. “What we’re asking China to do is to commit to $40 billion out of that $124 billion total.”

He thinks because of the structural changes in the deal, China will be more than able to accomplish that.

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