US trade chief says China complying with deal commitments

 U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the United States is closely tracking China’s compliance with recent bilateral trade agreements and, so far, Beijing is meeting its obligations as Washington works to preserve a stable commercial relationship.

“With China, it’s always we verify and we monitor and we watch the commitments. The commitments are quite specific,” Greer said Sunday on Fox News’ The Sunday Briefing. “So all of these things that we’ve agreed to with the Chinese recently are very concrete, we can monitor them with some ease, and so far, we’re seeing that they’re in compliance.”

Greer said China has fulfilled roughly “a third” of its commitment to purchase U.S. soybeans during the current growing season. His comments came after earlier reports that Chinese buying activity slowed following a wave of orders placed in late October, which marked the first purchases of the season.

Trade talks between Washington and Beijing regained momentum in late October, when President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to extend a tariff truce, ease export controls and roll back certain trade barriers.

Several components of that understanding remain unresolved, including agricultural purchases, the future of social media platform TikTok and expanded licenses for China’s exports of critical rare earth materials.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Greer spoke by video on Friday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The outlet described the exchange as “in-depth and constructive,” with officials from both sides pledging to maintain stable relations and address “respective concerns” on trade and economic issues.

Appearing separately on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Bessent said China is not expected to speed up its soybean purchases, but reaffirmed that the buying is anticipated to occur within this crop season.

He added that soybean prices have risen between 12% and 15% since the trade agreement was reached, and noted that he divested from a soybean farm to comply with ethics requirements.

The Trump administration is also expected to unveil a delayed farm aid package this week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a cabinet meeting last Tuesday.

Greer also addressed concerns over the export of advanced semiconductor technology to China, cautioning that national security considerations must take precedence.

“My own view is we need to be very cautious about this,” he said on Fox News. “We want companies’ bottom lines to do well, but as policymakers, we need to make sure that the national security is placed first and foremost, and that’s why you’ve heard President Trump talk about the types of chips that maybe would be restricted and there’s always an open discussion on where that threshold lies, and it changes over time.”