After months of commercial tension between the U.S. and China sparked by President Donald Trump’s trade war, The New York Times reported that China has agreed to make its first significant purchase from the U.S. in months. The news arrived after the president agreed to delay his next round of tariffs, which resulted in China agreeing to place a large order of soy beans.
Just the day before, China had offered to lift tariffs on a small amount of goods in a move The New York Times described as a “modest olive branch” to President Trump.
CNN also recently reported that the president had made what he described as a “gesture of goodwill” due to the fact that the People’s Republic of China will celebrate its 70th anniversary on October 1.
“At the request of the Vice Premier of China, Liu He, and due to the fact that the People’s Republic of China will be celebrating their 70th Anniversary on October 1st, we have agreed, as a gesture of good will, to move the increased Tariffs on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods (25% to 30%), from October 1st to October 15th,” the president announced.
Aircraft parts and cars are reportedly some products included in the tariffs.
Critics have been quick to point out that while any lessening of the tension in this trade war is a good thing, the easing on only a few products doesn’t help the agricultural workers that have been hit hardest by President Donald Trump’s trade war.
U.S. Soybean Export Council executive Jim Stutter confirmed that the soy bean purchase had been made by China and was somewhere between 600,000 and 1 million metric tons distributed over some 20 cargo ships operating from terminals in the Pacific Northwest. The shipments are due to be sent to China in October. Stutter expressed that he was “happy to see this apparent thaw in the relationship” and his wish that “we could get trade back to normal.”
While only a small step at this point, many are concerned about the possibility of a recession with both manufacturing and stocks seeing a decline, as reported by The Inquisitr recently. With a potential economic downturn looming overhead, any move in direction back to healthy trade between these two economic superpowers is welcome news for many. China’s chief negotiator of trade Liu He will meet with Donald Trump and his associates next month in Washington in an attempt to reach some kind of deal.
