Trade Negotiators Meeting Face-to-Face Next Week

(WASHINGTON, DC) U.S. negotiators will visit China early next week for trade negotiations to begin on July 30, the White House said in a statement on July 24. Reuters reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will travel to Shanghai for the talks, which will be led by Vice Premier Liu Hui on the Chinese side. The meeting marks the first face-to-face negotiations since President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to restart stalled trade talks during the G-20 Summit in Japan in late June. According to the White House, the discussions will cover topics including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, the trade deficit, and enforcement. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC on Tuesday he expected Beijing to start buying U.S. agriculture products soon. He added that Lighthizer and Mnuchin emphasized the need for Beijing to make good on its pledge to buy more U.S. agricultural products in their recent phone calls with Chinese negotiators. This comes as USDA is preparing to roll out another round of trade mitigation measures for farmers and ranchers. According to Politico, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said all farmers who qualify for the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) or direct payments, will collect at least $15 per acre across three rounds of payments. The Trump administration has earmarked $16 billion to help the agriculture industry targeted by Chinese retaliatory tariffs.