American Soybean Association (ASA) staff participated in an event sponsored by Informa and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, where the two organizations jointly rolled out a new report entitled, Cultivating Opportunity: The Benefits of Increased U.S. China Agricultural Trade. The report highlights the benefits of two-way agricultural trade between the U.S. and China, which has reached $35.6 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow to over $71.2 billion from 2016-25. However, there are a variety of tariff and behind-the-border barriers that leave significant agricultural export opportunities unrealized. These include:

• China’s asynchronous and unpredictable approval process for agricultural biotechnology and discriminatory treatment for foreign animal vaccines
• China’s tariff-rate quotas for corn, rice, wheat and sugar
• Subsides for domestic machinery products in China
• Anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed by both countries

The report indicates that resolving these and other barriers to trade could result in $28.1 billion in agricultural sector products over 2016-25. The study recommends the following policy reforms for China:

• Adherence to timely, predictable and science-based approaches for approvals of biotechnology and equitable treatment for foreign animal vaccines and imports
• Implementation of improved animal health management with veterinary pharmaceuticals and vaccines
• Increase transparency for existing TRQ allocations for commodities
• Eliminate subsides for domestic farm machinery or making these subsides available to foreign brands