(United States) Agricultural Purchase Deal during the China Visit; China Pledges $17 Billion a Year

US President Trump paid a state visit to China from May 13 to 15. This is the first visit by a US president to China since 2017. The White House released the results list on May 18, and agriculture and agricultural trade have become important results areas of the meeting.

According to the contents released by the White House, China has promised to purchase at least US $17 billion of US agricultural products every year in 2026 (converted according to the remaining time after the visit), 2027 and 2028. The commitment is independent of the soybean purchase agreement reached in October 2025. China has also restored the registration of more than 400 U.S. beef companies to China and added some new registrations, restarted the import of poultry products from highly pathogenic avian influenza-free areas identified by the U.S. side, and promised to speed up the handling of non-tariff barriers and markets for some U.S. agricultural products. Access issues.

According to the interpretation of the Ministry of Commerce on May 20, China and the United States reached a series of positive consensus on promoting the resolution of non-tariff barriers and market access issues of some agricultural products, and agreed in principle to include relevant products in the framework arrangement of reciprocal tax reduction (each with a scale of US $30 billion or more), and set the guiding goal of expanding two-way trade of agricultural products. The U.S. side promised to promote the lifting of the automatic detention measures for Chinese dairy products and three types of aquatic products exported to the United States, and to accept the experimental export of Chinese media bonsai to the United States.

In terms of mechanism construction, the two sides agreed to establish an intergovernmental trade council and an investment council to provide a normalized platform for trade and investment issues, and promote economic and trade consultations from "crisis response" to "institutional management". In addition, the Chinese side will introduce 200 Boeing aircraft in accordance with the principle of commercialization.

For Sino-US agricultural trade, this round of consensus has released a signal of easing at both ends of tariff arrangements and market access. China emphasizes that no matter what reason the United States will impose or replace tariffs on China in the future, the level should not exceed the arrangements determined in previous consultations; the actual pace of implementation of relevant procurement commitments and the progress of non-tariff barriers will be the focus of follow-up observation.

Source: White House list of results; Xinhua News Agency (interpretation of the Department of Commerce, US and US); Reuters, May 2026.