China Didn’t Meet Phase One Commitment

When it was all said and done, China wound up $16 billion short of achieving its obligations under the Phase One Trade Deal. The Biden administration is looking for ways to keep China buying agricultural products. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Ag Committee last week that the administration is “putting them on notice that we want them to live up to the agreement.”

The secretary told committee members that the U.S. has unfinished business when talking about the two-year trade deal which ended on January 1^st. Vilsack said China committed to buying $40 billion a year in ag products in 2020 and 2021. The Asian nation missed the goal by $13 billion in 2020 ($27 billion) and missed the goal by $3 billion ($37 billion) in 2021.

Vilsack also says China didn’t yet revise its import rules for crop biotechnology approvals, dried distillers’ grains, ethanol purchases, and many other already agreed-on obligations.

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