Chinese importers recently purchased a small amount of American farm goods as part of Trump's "truce" with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but those purchases may be canceled.
Bloomberg reported over the weekend that China's state-owned firms have been ordered to stop buying American farm goods, but orders placed by private firms who were granted retaliatory-tariff exemptions by the government could still be fulfilled.
Or maybe not. Chinese state media reported today that the exemptions that led to small purchases could be canceled and tariffs will be placed on the orders that haven't shipped yet.
From CNBC:
China said on Monday it could slap tariffs on U.S. agricultural products that it bought recently, state-run media Xinhua said.
“The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has not ruled out import tariffs on newly purchased US agricultural products after August 3, and Chinese related companies have suspended purchasing US agricultural products,” Xinhua said on Monday.
This is almost certainly going to happen and everything that was put into motion at the end of June when Trump met with Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit will be dead.
To say that everything Trump touches "turns to shit" is not just a punchline, it's an empirical fact.
China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed this afternoon that state-owned firms have been ordered to stop buying any American farm goods, not just soybeans.