The U.S. apparently wants more from China than a promise to buy more U.S. agricultural goods. Politico reports that U.S. officials have handed China a list of agricultural trade barriers that “must be lifted” to boost imports from the U.S. to China in an effort to reduce the trade deficit. However, China has stated that it will not remove trade barriers as long as Trump imposes new U.S. tariffs, which could soon take effect. China said earlier this week that the outcome of the talks should be based on “meeting each other halfway.”
China, meanwhile, has responded with targeting U.S. ag products with retaliatory tariffs, if warranted. The National Pork Producers Council said the trade war is already harming agriculture. Iowa State University Economist Dermot Hayes says U.S. pork farmers have lost $2.2 billion on an annualized basis from lower hog prices.