Trump Tariffs: China-US Farm Trade Talks Before Xi Summit

The latest trump tariffs news from Beijing arrives just days before the two most powerful leaders in the world sit down together. China and the United States discussed tariff cuts, agricultural trade and other issues at their first trade council meeting on Friday, China’s Commerce Ministry said on Saturday, with a leaders’ meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping expected in Shenzhen next week. The ministry described the exchanges as candid, in-depth and constructive, but it did not say whether any agreements were reached, leaving the biggest questions in the US-China trade relationship still open as the summit approaches.

The meeting matters because farm trade has become the sharpest point of friction between the two countries, and both sides have spent months pressing each other to honour promises made in earlier rounds of talks. For American farmers, the stakes are measured in billions of dollars of lost sales. For Beijing, the prize is relief from American tariffs on Chinese goods. The Friday discussion was the final preparatory step before the leaders themselves take up the file in Shenzhen.

Trade Council Holds Its First Meeting

The session on Friday was the first meeting of a new trade council set up by the two sides, and it was held against a backdrop of rising impatience in both capitals. According to China’s Commerce Ministry, the two delegations held candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges on carrying out the outcomes of previous rounds of economic and trade talks, including tariffs, a reciprocal tariff-cut arrangement covering 30 billion dollars of goods on each side, agricultural trade and other issues of mutual concern. The statement, issued on Saturday, was the first official account of the meeting, and its careful wording suggested progress without a breakthrough.

The timing was no accident. The White House has said Trump will meet Xi on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Shenzhen, and the trade council session was plainly intended to prepare the ground for that encounter. Both leaders will arrive with a detailed understanding of where the negotiations stand, and the council meeting gave their teams one last chance to narrow the gaps before the leaders take over.

Tariff News: The $30 Billion-for-$30 Billion Offer

At the centre of the tariff news is a reciprocal arrangement that both sides have been discussing since the autumn. Under the proposal, each country would cut tariffs on 30 billion dollars’ worth of the other’s goods, a package first put forward after a summit between Xi and Trump in Washington in September. The two sides later proposed a wider 60 billion dollar package of reciprocal tariff cuts, including roughly 17 billion dollars’ worth of American farm goods that China imported in 2024, but that plan has yet to be finalised.

The two countries formalised a bilateral Board of Trade mechanism in September to work through the details, identifying non-sensitive goods worth up to 30 billion dollars on each side for potential tariff reductions. The American list covered a range of consumer goods, including microwave ovens, electric irons, Christmas decorations and toys. China’s list focused on agricultural goods, a difference that reflects the structure of the trade between the two countries: the United States sells China food and farm products, while China sells the United States manufactured consumer goods.

Beijing has made its position clear. A day before the trade council met, the Chinese Commerce Ministry reminded Washington to implement the tariff-cut arrangement as a precondition for buying more American farm products. Huang Ling, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said on Thursday that China had always maintained an open attitude towards expanding agricultural imports from the United States, provided that the agreed reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement covering 30 billion dollars on each side is implemented. The message was unmistakable: farm purchases and tariff relief are linked, and Beijing expects movement on tariffs before it expands its buying.

Farm Trade: Soybeans and the $17 Billion Promise

Agriculture is where the promises have been most specific and the shortfalls most visible. At a leaders’ meeting in Beijing in May, China committed to buying at least 17 billion dollars’ worth of American agricultural products each year for three years. The commitment included purchases of 12 million metric tonnes of American soybeans in the 2025 season, rising to 25 million metric tonnes in 2026. The soybean deal was a key outcome of that arrangement, which also included tariff relief on both sides and a suspension of export controls on rare earths.

On soybeans, the record is mixed. China met its 2025 target and is on course to meet its 2026 promises, according to the available data. But even if China fulfils its soybean purchase commitments in full, shipments would remain 14 percent below the annual average of 29 million tonnes recorded between 2020 and 2024, according to analysis by Purdue University’s Centre for Commercial Agriculture. The gap shows how far the trade relationship has shrunk from its peak, and how much ground would need to be recovered even under full compliance.

The picture is weaker for other farm goods. Chinese purchases of American farm products other than soybeans are on track to hit a seven-year low this year, despite the agreement to buy 17 billion dollars’ worth annually through 2028, a Reuters analysis of customs data showed earlier this month. Between January and September, China bought 7.2 billion dollars’ worth of other American agricultural products. The shortfall underlines why American farm groups have grown frustrated, and why the administration has made agricultural purchases a central demand in its dealings with Beijing.

Rare Earths and the Busan Deal

The farm dispute cannot be separated from the wider trade deal struck in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025. That agreement capped American tariffs on Chinese goods imposed during Trump’s second term at about 20 percent, and it is due to expire on January 10. Under the Busan deal, China pledged to buy 25 million tonnes of American soybeans over the next three years and to boost its purchases of other American farm goods by 17 billion dollars. It also involved commitments on rare earths and other critical minerals, which are essential to American manufacturing.

Washington has grown impatient with the pace of implementation. On November 6, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urged Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in a video call to implement the terms of the pact agreed in Busan, particularly on the delivery of rare earths and other critical minerals and agricultural purchases. The US Trade Representative’s office said afterwards that the administration would pursue balanced trade by monitoring compliance with past commitments while unlocking lasting benefits for American farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and workers.

The Busan deal’s expiry date of January 10 adds urgency to the current round of talks. If the two sides cannot agree on an extension or a replacement, the tariff caps could lapse and the trade war could escalate again. The Shenzhen meeting, and the trade council session that preceded it, are therefore not just about the next few weeks. They are about whether the framework built over the past year survives into 2027.

Trump Administration: Pressure From Farm States

The politics of the trade dispute have shifted in recent weeks. Rural strongholds across states such as Iowa, Kansas and Texas broke with Republicans in the recent midterm elections, in a backlash driven by war-driven fuel spikes, steep tariffs and lingering uncertainty over China’s buying commitments. The results were a warning to the White House that the farm vote, long a Republican strength, cannot be taken for granted while export markets remain disrupted.

The midterm outcome has sharpened the administration’s focus on delivering farm sales. A large Chinese purchase deal would be a visible win for the White House, and Beijing knows it. That is why the Chinese side has been able to set terms, insisting on tariff cuts in exchange for expanded buying. Washington wants the farm sales. Beijing wants the tariff relief. Both sides believe the other will move first, and the negotiation has become a test of which side needs a deal more.

For now, the administration’s public position is to press for compliance. Bessent and Greer’s call with He Lifeng was the clearest statement of that approach: honour the commitments already made, on rare earths and on agriculture, before asking for anything new. The trade council meeting on Friday was the next step in the same strategy, a forum for pressing the case in detail. Whether it produced any movement will only become clear when the leaders meet in Shenzhen.

US Politics: The Shenzhen Meeting and What Comes Next

All eyes are now on Shenzhen, where Trump and Xi are expected to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The summit itself runs on November 18 and 19, and the two leaders are also expected to meet again at the G-20 summit in Miami on December 14 and 15. The Shenzhen encounter will be the first chance for the two leaders to discuss the trade relationship face to face since the September summit in Washington, and it comes at a moment when both sides have laid out their positions in unusual detail.

The meeting will be watched closely for several signals. The first is whether the two leaders can agree to finalise the 60 billion dollar package of reciprocal tariff cuts proposed after the September summit. The second is whether China offers any new commitment on farm purchases beyond the 17 billion dollar annual pledge. The third is whether the Busan deal, which expires on January 10, is extended or replaced. Any one of those outcomes would count as progress. All three together would amount to a significant reset of the relationship.

But there are also reasons to think this time could be different. The midterm results have given the White House a clear incentive to deliver for farmers. The January 10 expiry of the Busan deal has given both sides a deadline. And the Shenzhen meeting gives the two leaders a stage on which to announce a deal if one can be reached. The trade council meeting on Friday was a small step, but it was a step in the right direction. Whether it leads anywhere will be decided in Shenzhen.

Source: Reuters