President Donald Trump on Oct. 19 outlined top demands he has of China ahead of a potential meeting with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, including soybean purchases and the curbing of fentanyl precursor exports.
Trump will be traveling to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Oct. 29. Beijing has yet to confirm Xi’s attendance.
Trump originally announced the meeting after a two-hour phone call with Xi on Sept. 19, but said there was “no reason” to do so after the Chinese Communist Party made an unprecedented and outsized move by announcing a massive restriction on rare earth exports. The Trump administration had responded with criticism and threats of increased tariffs and other measures, sending a message that Beijing had worsened its negotiating position with the move.
Trump on Oct. 19 pointed out that China wants to lower its tariffs, again suggesting that the Chinese regime is in a poorer negotiating position.
“They’re paying an unbelievable amount of money to the United States,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “They probably can’t pay that much, and I’m OK with that, we can lower that, but they have to do things for us, too.”
Tariffs that the administration announced in April have been paused to allow negotiations between the two countries; otherwise, China would be paying a 157 percent tariff, according to Trump.
China is currently paying 55 percent tariffs, which will go up to 155 percent “unless we make a deal,” the president said at a news briefing on Oct. 20.
Trump pointed out that the April number was the sum of multiple tariffs imposed for different reasons, including a 20 percent tariff based on Beijing’s refusal to curb exports of fentanyl precursors. Trump said any reductions the Chinese regime seeks will have to be dependent on what they agree to.
“I want to help China … but they have to give us things, too,” Trump said on Oct. 19 aboard Air Force One.
“China’s going to buy soybeans. I want China to stop with the fentanyl. I don’t want them to play the rare earth game with us.”
Trump had threatened additional 100 percent tariffs to begin on Nov. 1—which would go into effect right after his Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trip—and export controls on “critical software” in response to Chinese rare earths export controls.
Trump was confident China would resume soybean purchases.
“Otherwise, I’m not going to make a deal,” he said.
“Our farmers have been boycotted by China as a negotiating point. I don’t want that. Our farmers are great.”
China was the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, largely used for livestock feed, but made no purchases this year. Instead, it turned to Brazil and Argentina to fulfill its quota, and Trump has said he will bail out U.S. soybean farmers with tariff revenue.
On Aug. 19, the American Soybean Association wrote to Trump to say that U.S.–China trade tensions were hurting the industry. Days later, a Chinese regime representative held a meeting with U.S. soybean industry stakeholders in Washington and urged farmers to lobby for lowering tariffs on China but did not pledge to make any purchases.
Trump told reporters on Oct. 19 that he wants China to purchase “at least” as many soybeans as it did before the boycott.
The American Soybean Association had produced a report showing U.S. dependence on China to purchase soybeans. Because China imports 60 percent of the world’s soybeans, other markets are unable to fill the gap. The second-largest importer of U.S. soybeans is the European Union, which buys less than one-fifth of what China normally would.
China’s pivot to Brazil and Argentina has been years in the making. Its purchases of U.S. soybeans plummeted in 2018 during the last trade war with the first Trump administration, and purchases have not hit record levels again.
Meanwhile, Brazil drastically increased soybean production beginning in 2018, in response to increased Chinese purchasing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that Brazil produced 42 percent more soybeans than the United States in market year 2024–2025. Argentina is currently the world’s third-largest producer, behind the United States.
Trump on Oct. 20 said that he has been invited to China and will likely visit early next year.
“I think we’re going to have a very good relationship with China,” he said. “I think we’re going to end up having a fantastic deal with China.”
Theepochtimes.com
