Remember when China promised to buy more American agricultural products in exchange for the reduction of tariffs? Surprise, China did what it always does. The New York Times reported on September 21:
When President Trump met with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in May, the United States announced that China had agreed to sharply increase its purchases of American agricultural products. The pledge, one of China’s major commitments after the high-profile meeting, appeared to offer relief to U.S. farmers battered by the trade war between the two countries. Four months later, there is little sign of a broad Chinese buying spree. The White House announced in May that China would buy at least $17 billion a year of U.S. farm goods through 2028, with the target prorated for 2026. Soybeans were not included: China had already vowed separately to step up purchases from American farmers. Yet in the first seven months of 2026, China bought only $3.9 billion of U.S. agricultural products, excluding soybeans, according to the most recent Agriculture Department data. The amount was only slightly more than during the same period last year, when sales were at a six-year low as the two countries imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on each other. “They’re not keeping that promise and it hasn’t been talked about,” said Ishan Bhanu, the lead agricultural commodities analyst at Kpler, which tracks trade flows. The sluggish pace of China’s purchases could become a point of contention when Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi meet again at a summit this week. During his first term, Mr. Trump accused Beijing of “letting us down” by reneging on pledges to buy American agricultural products and called its failure to buy soybeans an “economically hostile” act.... For now, soybeans appear to be the only sector seeing a significant boost. After Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi met last October, China bought 12.4 million tons of soybeans from the United States in 2025, according to Jim Sutter, the chief executive officer of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. So far this year, China has made additional purchases amounting to about half of the 25-million-ton, full-year commitment that Washington said was promised. The purchases put the industry “sort of back on track,” Mr. Sutter said. Analysts say the sales of wheat, cotton, beef and pork also remain well below recent levels. China also faces structural obstacles to buying more American agricultural products. An additional 10 percent Chinese tariff on U.S. goods remains in place, while weakness in the Chinese economy has weighed on demand. From a purely commercial standpoint, buying significantly more U.S. agricultural goods “doesn’t really make sense for China,” said Fred Gale, an expert on China’s agricultural markets and a former economist at the U.S. Agriculture Department. Rest of article. “For most Chinese private-sector buyers, it’s not really feasible to buy American products,” Mr. Gale said. “State-owned companies aren’t coming in to buy large amounts of grain or pork. It’s hard to see exactly what China has in mind, whether they actually intend to meet those objectives.”
Kingfish note: Ok, Commish, take up for your farmers and urge Trump to get the Chinese to comply.
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