US says China will buy billions in agricultural products after Trump-Xi talks | Business and Financial Issues

China will buy ‘at least’ US$17bn worth of agricultural products annually, White House says.

China will buy “at least” $17bn of agricultural products from the United States annually following US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, the White House has said.

China will buy the products until 2028, and the 2026 target is working towards the end of the year, according to a report released on Sunday.

The White House said the deal was in addition to China’s commitment to buy 87 million tons of US soybeans, which was made during Trump’s meeting with Xi in South Korea in October.

China will restore market access to US cattle and renew the list of more than 400 production sites, and resume imports of poultry from countries determined by the US Department of Agriculture to be free of avian influenza, according to the policy paper.

Trump and Xi also agreed to establish two new agencies – the US-China Board of Trade and the US-China Board of Investment – to oversee trade and investment between the two sides, the White House said.

China did not confirm or comment on the White House announcement.

China’s embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House update provides further insight into the outcome of the two-day meeting between Trump and Xi, which was heavy on gamesmanship and interaction but light on concrete agreements.

During two days of talks in Beijing, Trump and Xi sought greater economic and trade ties, while ignoring the difficult issues of Taiwan and the US-Israel conflict over Iran.

In a reading after the meeting on Friday, the White House said the two sides discussed ways to “strengthen economic cooperation”, and that they agreed on the need to open the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Beijing did not explicitly say that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, but emphasized the need to reach “a solution to Iran’s nuclear issue and other issues of common concern”.

No White House statement made any mention of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing views as an important part of its territory.

Abandoning any mention of the island – the protection of which Washington has pledged to support under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act – came after Xi warned of “conflicts and conflicts” between the major powers if the issue is “not properly resolved”.

After nearly a decade of economic tensions between Washington and Beijing, US-China trade has plummeted from its peak.

Their bilateral trade last year reached $415bn, down from $690bn in 2022.