Washington, D.C. January 15, 2020.  The soybean industry applauds the Administration for making considerable strides with China in its Phase 1 deal and is hopeful the agreement will lead to additional measures that restore open trade between the two countries, including a negotiated solution in the next phase that removes tariffs on American soybeans shipped to China.

“We have long supported changes to how China conducts business with the world, in agriculture and other industries. Today’s signing addresses many of those concerns and is a positive for the U.S., including reduction of non-tariff barriers to trade that are important to soybean growers and other agriculture groups.” said Bill Gordon, soy farmer from Worthington, Minn., and ASA president.

Changes outlined in the Phase 1 deal are encouraging: Increased agriculture purchases; a more predictable, efficient, science- and risk-based regulatory process for evaluation and authorization of agricultural biotechnology products; improvements to sanitary and phytosanitary measures; and intellectual property protection for agriculture, among others. The American Soybean Association (ASA) has actively advocated for many of the improvements itemized in White House summary documents of the deal.

“We are very pleased to see true progress on the regulatory process for ag biotech products, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and other big points of concern. And, importantly, this milestone moment in the negotiation process bodes well for de-escalation of the tension between our two countries and making further progress,” Gordon commented, “Yet, as an industry, we have a lingering unease regarding the tariff on U.S. beans, which was not addressed in this deal.  China needs to take action, and, as a goodwill gesture, offer to remove its retaliatory tax on our soybeans.”

According to documents released by the White House outlining details of the deal, China’s imports of U.S. agricultural products, “such as soybeans, cotton, grains, meats, ethanol, seafood, and the full range of other agricultural products,” will total at least $80 billion over the next two years.