The US and China are moving toward reducing tariffs on each other’s agricultural products, officials said Thursday, as the superpowers’ trade relationship settles into a phase of relative stability.
The reduction in duties could open the door for China to ramp up purchases of American soybeans, by pushing their cost below that of Brazilian supplies. The US-China dynamic is “oddly calm,” historian Adam Tooze wrote, as Beijing and Washington maintain their trade truce.
Instead, the debate around China’s export surge largely centers on Europe, as the continent struggles to cohesively tackle the influx of cheap Chinese goods. “That is painful for the Europeans, but less explosive for the world economy, so far at least,” Tooze argued.
