China is importing U.S. ag and other goods a bit slower than originally hoped for, but the phase-one trade pact is still being successfully implemented, National Economic Council (NEC) Director Larry Kudlow said Thursday.
“I guess the Chinese purchases are a little behind, but I think that’s more because of poor economic and market conditions … and China has every intent of implementing (phase one),” Kudlow told the Washington Post.
Kudlow said China is not currently looking to renegotiate the trade pact, saying that’s not happening. “At the present time … there’s no renegotiating at all,” he said. “We’re looking for steady implementation and we’ll be monitoring it very closely.”
USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative said in an update that Beijing is making progress "despite difficult times for both our countries" with agricultural purchases, exemptions on retaliatory tariffs and approvals of more U.S. exports of farm products.
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue was also upbeat about recent steps China has taken to open its market to U.S. avocados, blueberries, barley, meat, dairy and forage products. The White House released a document on Thursday on the administration’s “strategic approach” toward China, which called the Phase One agreement a sign of “critical progress toward a more balanced trade relationship.”
Both sides continue to emphasize that the phase-one agreement continues even as some continue to counter that China is not expected to meet the terms of the agreement.
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