US - China Trade War: Chinese Official Promises Increased Purchases Of American Goods Based On Market Needs

China will increase imports of U.S. goods based on market needs, Meng Wei, a spokesperson for China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said Sunday.

The Chinese official said that the U.S. has high-quality products in certain fields, such as energy, manufacturing and agriculture. He said that Beijing will negotiate with American firms on the details of the purchases.

Meng’s statements come after the U.S. and China signed a “Phase 1” trade deal this week. The agreement will require Beijing to purchase $200 billion in U.S. agricultural goods and other products over the next two years. In exchange, the Trump administration will call off planned tariff increases on Chinese goods.

The deal partially intends to help U.S. farmers, who have been hard hit due to trade tensions.

U.S. officials have also said that the deal would allow the U.S. to have better access to Chinese financial markets and end forced-technology transfers. In the past, Beijing has sometimes required U.S. companies to hand over their technology in order to have access to the massive Chinese market.

Prior to the deal being signed, the Trump administration dropped China’s designation of being a “currency manipulator.”

The trade war began in 2018, with Trump intending the tariffs to revive manufacturing in the United States and keep Beijing from flooding global markets with artificially cheap products. Large retailers, such as Walmart, have said that the trade war would cause them to raise prices, hurting American consumers.