China has pledged to buy nearly an additional $80 billion of manufactured goods from the United States over the next two years, plus over $50 billion more in energy supplies, according to a source briefed on a trade deal to be signed on Wednesday.
Aiding a sector that enjoys a rare trade surplus with China, Beijing would also boost purchases of U.S. services by about $35 billion over the same two-year period, the source told Reuters on Monday.
The Phase 1 agreement calls for Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural goods to increase by some $32 billion over two years, or roughly $16 billion a year, the source said.
When combined with the $24 billion U.S. agricultural export baseline in 2017, the total gets close to the $40 billion annual goal touted by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The $32 billion agriculture increase over 2017 was confirmed by Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, who spoke to reporters on Monday in Beijing.
The numbers, expected to be announced on Wednesday at a White House signing ceremony between Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, represent a staggering increase over recent Chinese imports of U.S. manufactured goods.
Two other sources familiar with the Phase 1 trade deal agreed with the rough breakdown of the purchases, without providing specific numbers.