China open to more U.S. farm imports if reciprocal tariff cuts implemented: commerce spokesperson

BEIJING, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- China has always been open to expanding its purchases of agricultural products from the United States, but the precondition is that the two sides' arrangement for a 30-billion-U.S. dollar reciprocal tariff reduction is implemented, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Ministry spokesperson Huang Ling said at a regular press conference that China-U.S. agricultural trade is an important component of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Expanding agricultural cooperation between the two countries can both enrich the dining tables of the two peoples and provide stable income for businesses and farmers in both countries, bringing tangible benefits to both sides, Huang noted.

Huang expressed the hope that the U.S. side can work with China to create more favorable conditions for agricultural trade between the two countries by jointly reducing tariffs, cutting non-tariff barriers and expanding market access.

China and the United States held the eighth round of their economic and trade consultations in New York and Washington, D.C. from Sept. 20 to 23.

In the consultations, the two sides agreed to reduce tariffs on about 30 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods imported from each other on a reciprocal basis, with tariffs on around 90 percent of the covered products to be lowered to most-favored-nation rates. These reductions will be implemented simultaneously after each side completes domestic legal procedures.