6/28/2019

AGRICULTURE/CHINA/G20/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Agriculture Department today reported a large U.S. soybean sale to China hours ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Japan, where the two leaders are expected to try to defuse escalating trade tensions. China purchased 544,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans for the 2018-19 marketing year that ends Aug. 31 — the largest such purchase since late March, according to USDA data. The U.S.-China tariff battle has caused a sharp drop in U.S. soybean exports to China, a massive market for American producers. USDA in its latest trade forecast estimated $17 billion in sales in fiscal 2019, compared with $21.6 billion last year. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has criticized China for not fulfilling its promise to purchase about 14 million tons of soybeans as part of an earlier trade truce between the two countries. So far, about 8 million tons have been shipped, Reuters reported.”

-Catherine Boudreau, “Big China soy buy precedes Trump-Xi meeting,” Politico, June 28, 2019 4:22 pm