AsianFin -- The Trump administration on Thursday disclosed some details of the agreement recently reached with Beijing, sending positive signals about the end of China’s soybean war.
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As part of an agreement settled by its leaders, China has pledged to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans from U.S. farmers this season, and also committed to buy at least 25 million metric tons annually over the next three years, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business on Thursday.
Bessent said in an interview that China has pledged to resume the regular import level of U.S. soybeans in each of the next three years. “So you know, our great soybean farmers, who the Chinese used as political pawns, that’s off the table, and they should prosper in the years to come,” he said.
Bessent suggested China could eventually make purchases bigger than it has committed to. "What I would expect is, as President Trump did in 2020, after President Xi had agreed to the phase one deal, he called him regularly and got him to buy more, and that number went up much higher," said the Treasury chief.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins the same day echoed Bessent’s remarks, namely, China’s commitment to buy at least 87 million tons of U.S. soybeans in total from this year to 2028. China will buy at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this year, and a minimum of 25 million metric tons per year from 2026 to 2028, Rollins said in her post on X.
Rollins posted China will also import sorghum and hardwood from the U.S., and remove “unwarranted tariffs” on most U.S. agricultural like soybeans, cotton, sorghum, corn, wheat, chicken, dairy, pork, beef, fruits and vegetables. She said these China’s commitments will directly benefit American farms, American workers, and American families as it represents money flowing straight to them.
Earlier Thursday following his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump said China will purchase “tremendous” amounts of American soybeans. The president later in a post on his social media Truth Social said that Xi has authorized the Chinese government to begin the massive purchase of soybeans, sorghum and other farm products.
Touting the “truly great meeting” with Xi, Trump in the post called on American farmers to “immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors.”
China last year bought about 27 million tons of soybeans from the U.S., according to data from U.S. Department of Agriculture. Official data showed China stopped importing U.S. soybeans so far this year amid Trump’s trade war, depriving American farmers of their largest export market.
A day prior to Trump-Xi talks this week, China was reported to have placed order of at least two cargoes of U.S. soybeans, the first known purchase this season. Bloomberg on Wednesday cited unnamed sources that the shipments are booked for loading and possible delivery later this year.
“This purchase, coming directly ahead of the Trump-Xi talks, shows that America means business and that we will restore balance, give U.S. producers the opportunities they’ve earned, and send a message that when America leads in agriculture, the world listens,” Rollins commented in an X post.
The news about China’s purchase of soybeans is a “wonderful” sign for Thursday’s meeting, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea.
Noting that China’s latest commitments are framed as minimums, the American Soybean Association (ASA) expressed hopes for growth in purchases beyond those levels. “This is a meaningful step forward to reestablishing a stable, long-term trading relationship that delivers results for farm families and future generations,” Caleb Ragland, president of the ASA, said in a statement.
However, analysts felt cautious about China’s future purchase as the minimum amount of purchase merely return trade to previous levels. A commitment of 12 million tons for the current season is a “fairly sizable reduction from a historical standpoint,” said Brian Grete, a senior grain and livestock analyst at Commstock. He pointed out that purchases of 25 million tons a year in the longer run would be “basically getting back to normal.”
