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Lighthizer says China will meet commitments this year

Concerns about China making enough U.S. ag purchases it has promised this year have been answered with reassurance by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, telling lawmakers today, “We expect them, and they expect, to make their commitments in this calendar year even though the agreement technically didn’t start until February 14^th and the exclusions really started at the beginning of March.”

Lighthizer tells lawmakers there’s a bit of a backloading with ag sales, especially soybeans, “If you look at 2017 which is the year we compare it to, there was $10-Billion dollars of selling at the end of the year. So, our objective is to get as much of all the other commodities as possible and realize at the end of the year there will be a lot of soybean sales.”

Lighthizer, who testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, says his office is monitoring the data and the indicators they have now say China WILL meet its phase-one ag commitments by the end of this year.