White House says China will buy at least $17 billion a year in US agricultural products through 2028 | Today’s news
China has reportedly agreed to buy a minimum of $17 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products each year through 2028, the White House announced Sunday after high-level talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. If met, the pledge would mark a dramatic reversal from 2025, when US agricultural exports to China fell 65.7 percent year-on-year to just $8.4 billion amid an escalating cycle of retaliatory tariffs.
What China agreed to buy
The $17 billion annual minimum covers a three-year period spanning 2026, 2027 and 2028, according to a White House fact sheet. Notably, this figure does not take into account soybean purchase commitments that China made on its own in October 2025, suggesting that the total volume of expected agricultural trade could be substantially higher.
In addition to the headline number, Beijing also agreed to work with U.S. regulators to lift existing suspensions on U.S. beef processing facilities and to resume poultry imports from U.S. states that have been certified avian flu-free. Both measures have irritated bilateral agricultural trade for a long time.
A new framework for trade and investment
The agricultural commitments form part of a broader diplomatic architecture agreed during the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing. The White House confirmed that the two governments will establish a US-China Trade Council and a US-China Investment Council, a move previously hinted at by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Wang Yi described the purpose of the new authorities in a statement last week, saying they would address market access concerns for agricultural products and expand trade “within the framework of reciprocal tariff reductions.”
How far US-China agricultural trade has fallen
The depth of the current commitment can only be understood against the background of how sharply trade ties have deteriorated. U.S. agricultural exports to China will reach $8.4 billion in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a number that reflects the cumulative damage from successive rounds of tariffs imposed by both sides.
The relationship between the agricultural sectors of the two countries has been shaky for almost a decade. China was buying about 20 percent of its soybeans from the U.S. in 2024, the year before Trump returned to office. That figure was 41 percent in 2016, underscoring how systematically Beijing has worked to diversify away from American suppliers since Trump’s first term in the White House.
Why this deal matters to American farmers
U.S. agricultural producers, especially soybean farmers concentrated in the Midwest, have long depended on Chinese demand to absorb excess production. The erosion of this market share against competitors such as Brazil has been a source of sustained economic pressure on farming communities. A binding multi-year purchase commitment, if followed, would offer a degree of certainty that has been lacking in US-China agricultural trade for years.
