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Cease-fire with U.S. and China is good news, but challenges remain

A Purdue University ag economist says the cease-fire between the U.S. and China is a step in the right direction.

China has said it will purchase more U.S. ag goods and Wally Tyner predicts that China will buy more U.S. soybeans soon, but not because of the trade truce…

“In a political context you can say they agreed to buy some, well yes they probably did but it means almost nothing because they were going to do that anyway,” he says. “They’re going to have to buy more U.S. soybeans because Brazil and Argentina can’t meet their total demand. Our study had already projected that in the near term they’re going to have to buy some soybeans from the U.S.”

He tells Brownfield it’s unclear how the negotiations will unfold over the next 90 days because the issues are broader than tariffs.

“If China won’t agree to discontinue cyber theft of intellectual property or discontinue requiring people who want to invest in China to turn over their intellectual property to the Chinese government- no amount of tariffs  will stop that,” he says.

Tyner says it will be unfortunate if U.S. agriculture continues to be the victim of the trade war, but it looks like that is what will happen if an agreement isn’t reached.

Audio: Wally Tyner, Purdue University 

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