Bessent Says New Framework Deal Will Restart American Soybean Exports to China, Ease Trade Tensions

China will purchase a “substantial” amount of soybeans from America if a trade deal between President Trump and Xi Jinping is sealed during Mr. Trump’s trip to Asia this week, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.The president arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, where Mr. Bessent completed two days of talks with his Chinese counterpart, the vice premier, He Lifeng. Mr. Bessent said that the framework set up for the meeting of the heads of state in South Korea on Thursday will leave Americans very happy.“I think it will be fantastic for U.S. citizens, for U.S. farmers and for our country in general,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” one of several morning news programs on which he appeared Sunday.“I’m not going to give you the details here, but I can tell you that the soybean farmers are going to be extremely happy with this deal for this year and for the coming years,” he added on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”American soybean farmers have been reeling from China’s hardball tactics of buying zero crops this year and imposing a 23 percent retaliatory tax in response to threats of triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports. Annual crop exports to China were worth nearly $13 billion last year. Instead, China turned to Brazil and Argentina to fill the gap, infuriating farmers who said that an American bailout of Argentina worth $20 billion would hit them coming and going.Mr. Bessent, himself a soybean farm owner, said China’s soybean purchases from other countries were not a substitution of American crops. Hinting at a multi-year agreement, he added that “the Chinese will be making substantial purchases again” in the near future. Even if soybean purchases pick up, concerns had been raised that China had already purchased enough supplies to meet its need for the year. America’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, disputed that contention, saying China still needed soybeans from America’s bumper crop this year. “China actually has not covered all its soybean needs for December and January so they still really need American product,” he told Bloomberg News. “We expect that China will have to resume those purchases if they want to have a good deal with the United States.”As the White House negotiated a trade deal with China, Mr. Bessent said America had removed its threat of a 100 percent tax on Chinese imports, set to go into effect on November 1, in response to China’s planned export controls on rare earth minerals, essential to electronics and automobile production.Mr. Bessent said he believes the Chinese government will defer or lift its threatened restrictions, which were part of negotiations that have been ongoing since May, when the president put a pause on threatened triple-digit tariffs.

Bessent Says New Framework Deal Will Restart American Soybean Exports to China, Ease Trade Tensions

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