The United States "will not be bought" by the China-Soy Agreement in Trade Negotiations: Lost

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will continue to pressure China for intellectual property protection measures in trade negotiations, ignoring Beijing's pledge to buy 10 million tons American soybean, announced Monday the US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue.

"We still have to deal with the structural problems of IP transfer," Perdue told reporters after a speech in Washington. "As a country, we will not be bought without buying, without eliminating some of these non-trade barriers in China."

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he would delay the increase of US tariffs on Chinese products through "productive" trade negotiations and that Chinese President Xi Jinping and himself would meet to seal an agreement if progress continued.

This announcement was the clearest sign to date that China and the United States are moving towards an agreement ending a trade war that has lasted for several months and has slowed global growth and disrupted markets.

Trump had planned to raise tariffs for Chinese imports in the United States from 25% to 25%, against 10% if the United States had not reached an agreement before Friday.

Last year, Beijing imposed tariffs on imports of US agricultural products, including soybeans, sorghum and pork grains, significantly reducing shipments of US agricultural products to China. On Friday, Lost said that China had committed, at a meeting in the White House, to buy 10 million tons of US soybeans.

Asked about the timing of the purchase of 10 million tonnes, Perdue said, "It's short-term. The impression I had, it is imminent.

China resumed buying US soybeans in December, after Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, concluded a trade truce, but sales remain well below the pre-tariff level.