‘Trump’s Tariffs Are Working’ as China’s Exports Shrink, Asia Expert Says

NTD Newsroom
By NTD Newsroom
October 17, 2019Business News
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While markets trade mixed as investors remain cautious over the U.S.-China partial trade deal, the United States and China may be more in sync than originally thought.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the world’s largest economies reached a “fundamental agreement” during the trade talks on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the two parties were unanimous in the deal.

He also addressed agricultural purchases by Chinese enterprises this year, including 700,000 tons of pork and 700,000 tons of sorghum.

China has already bought 320,000 tons of cotton, 230,000 tons of wheat, and 20 million tons of soybeans from the United States, spokesman Geng Shuang said.

African swine fever has killed millions of Chinese pigs, encouraging purchases of U.S. pork despite hefty tariffs in recent months.

Pork sales China
A staff member lifts a pork slice with tongs at a supermarket in Handan, Hebei province, China, on June 12, 2019. (Stringer/File Photo/Reuters)

President Donald Trump said last Friday that China had agreed to purchase $40 billion to $50 billion worth of U.S. agricultural goods in a first phase of an agreement to end the trade war.

U.S. sorghum exports to China totaled 628,075 tons from January to August while pork exports stood at 294,453 tons over that time, U.S. Census Bureau trade data showed.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that China will struggle to buy $50 billion of U.S. farm goods annually, unless the United States removes retaliatory tariffs on American products.

Chinese imports fell for the month by 8.5 percent in September. Asia expert Gordon Chang says this means Trump’s tariffs are working.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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