U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the U.S. expects China will commit to purchasing "double-digit" billions of U.S. agricultural products annually following President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing. But Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded their meetings without making any formal announcements.
Speaking on Bloomberg Asia ahead of the second of two bilateral meetings between Trump and Xi, Greer said Beijing is expected to commit to buying “double-digit billion” dollars of agricultural purchases – outside of soybeans – over the next three years.
“We’re trying to manage the trade around the kinds of things that we want to be selling to China, whether its Boeings or soybeans or other ag or energy or medical devices,” Greer said.
Beijing in October agreed to purchase 12 million metric tons of soybeans, followed by 25 million metric tons annually in 2026, 2027 and 2028. Greer said that the purchase commitments for other agricultural commodities would apply to the same timeframe.
“We expect to also see an agreement for double-digit billion purchases of ag over the next three years, per year, coming out of this visit,” he said. “And that’s more general, that’s aggregate, that’s not just soybeans. That’s everything else.”
Greer also argued that Beijing has been keeping pace with its October purchase commitments.
A White House fact sheet at the time said that China would buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans in the last two months of 2025, followed by 25 million metric tons in 2026 and the following two calendar years.
China had purchased, at most, around 13 million metric tons, as of last week.
Greer also said that Beijing would reinstate hundreds of expired registrations for U.S. beef export facilitates as part of a deal. China reinstated those registrations early Thursday morning, but the official Chinese customs website was still showing them as expired as late as Thursday afternoon.
Multiple meat industry groups told Agri-Pulse Thursday that they were seeking clarification on the status of those registrations.
Notably, Greer did not rule out the possibility of higher tariffs on Chinese exports. Most Chinese imports faced a 20% tariff rate in 2025, but the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s emergency tariffs in February, and since that decision they have been subject to a lower 10% global tariff rate.
China is, however, the target of two ongoing probes into unfair trade practices that could result in additional tariffs.
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“What the Chinese know and what we’ve agreed [is] that there is going to be a certain level of tariff,” Greer said. But he added that he can’t commit to a specific tariff rate before the investigations are wrapped, which he said should come in the next few weeks.
Asked whether a détente on tit-for-tat tariff escalations agreed in October would survive beyond the fall, Greer was noncommittal.
“We’ll see about that,” he said. “There’s certainly a willingness on both sides that if this continues to work out well for each country, to continue that.”
Following the meeting Friday morning, which took place at the Chinese Communist Party headquarters known as Zhongnanhai, Trump told reporters that the two sides have "settled a lot of different problems," without elaborating on what those problems are.
Xi also referred to the two sides ushering in a new and stable bilateral relationship.
“We have established a new bilateral relationship, based on constructive strategic stability,” he said
But some analysts on Friday morning expressed alarm that Trump had left China without announcing any firm outcomes from the visit.
"Where are the actual deliverables of the Trump-Xi summit? Will they be rolled out in coming hours or days or still need more work?" former trade negotiator Wendy Cutler said in a post to LinkedIn. Cutler, who is now senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, added that she is trying "to take a breath before rushing to judgment that this visit was full of pageantry but short on concrete outcomes."
One of the outcomes the administration has been teasing is the creation of a new “Board of Trade” to govern bilateral trade relations in non-sensitive goods. During the Bloomberg Asia interview Greer confirmed reporting from Reuters that the panel would likely manage trade terms for around $30 billion of products.
“There are certainly things that we should be buying from China,” Greer said. He added that he anticipates a public comment period where stakeholders can provide input on the mechanism.
“From there, we’ll be able to interact with our Chinese colleagues and negotiate with them,” he said.
This story will be updated.
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