Trade Tensions Ease as China Drops Some Pork and Soybean Tariffs

But Friday’s state media reports, brief in length and substance, left unclear whether China was willing to substantially roll back tariffs it had previously placed on American goods. It began to stop imports of American agricultural products a year ago as trade tensions escalated.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, the two sources of Friday’s news, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday, which was a holiday in China.

In further evidence of thawing relations, the United States Department of Agriculture said Friday that private exporters were reporting 204,000 metric tons of new soybeans sales to China — the first major purchases in months after Chinese state-supported industries stopped buying American soybeans and other agricultural products. On Thursday, officials from the U.S. Soybean Export Council said they had learned that China made purchases of 600,000 to one million metric tons of soybeans.

And on Wednesday, China published a short list of products to be spared from retaliatory tariffs on American-made goods, including cancer drugs, lubricants and pesticides. But those items are less central to the trade fight. Chinese purchases of American agricultural products make up a significant chunk of its imports from the United States.

The trade war, with a rising number of goods being taxed, not only has pushed prices higher for businesses and consumers in China and the United States, but risks a more permanent chill in relations between the two countries.

Trade tensions worsened in recent months following the collapse of talks in May. But senior officials of both governments are set to meet in Washington early next month amid rising economic worries in both countries

At a news conference on Thursday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce indicated that the government was considering making concessions in order to pave the way for more trade talks.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/business/china-us-soybeans-pork-tariffs.html?emc=rss&partner=rss