Politico says the preliminary trade agreement between China and the U.S. announced over the weekend raises more questions than it answers. No one knows how soon it comes together and things start to happen. While China agreed to buy significantly more American agricultural products, there aren’t any hard numbers attached to that promise yet.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be traveling to Beijing to negotiate long-term agricultural and energy sales contracts. Last November, Ross announced more than $250 billion in business deals between the U.S. and China. One of those was a $43 billion agreement involving the sales of liquified natural gas from Alaska to China.
But, during a Monday television appearance, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin seemed to be talking about that very same agreement as evidence of China’s new commitment to buy American agricultural and energy products.
Politico says the temporary trade pause seems to be masking internal White House battles over how hard to push China for major concessions.
In the meantime, President Trump once again took to Twitter, touting the pause in tensions as a major victory.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.