US: China agrees to $40-50 billion in annual ag purchases for two years

China has agreed to purchase $40 billion to $50 billion in U.S. agricultural commodities annually for two years as well as remove significant ag trade barriers, a senior Trump administration official told reporters Friday. The exact text of the “Phase One” deal is not yet ready for publication, but U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are tentatively scheduled to sign the finalized document in the first week of January, the administration official said. “In the agriculture area, we’re looking at commitments to make purchases in each of the next two years of $40 to $50 billion … Those are going to be significant increases,” the official said. The U.S. exported a record $26 billion worth of ag to China in 2012. “We’re really excited,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall told Agri-Pulse, but he said he wants to see the text of the deal. “A promise is a lot different than getting it in writing, so we’ll be looking forward to getting the details.”...MORE