Vilsack says growing trade with China remains a priority

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Vilsack says growing trade with China remains a priority

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the US continues to build on its trade relationship with China.

During a call with reporters from the G20 Summit on Thursday Vilsack says there is good news.  “They have obviously improved their purchases from where they were a couple of years ago,” he says.  “But, the challenge is they aren’t yet at the level that they tentatively aggressed under Phase One.”

And, he says, while there have been significant improvements in trade with China, it will be difficult to hold their feet to the fire.  “There is a provision in that agreement that basically gives China the ability to use market conditions as a reason, or an excuse, to not get to a particular level,” he says.  “And two, the enforcement mechanism, is not really an enforcement mechanism.”

Vilsack says there are ways to improve the agreement, but in the meantime, they’d like to see continued growth in the Chinese market. 

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