China Further Shifts Agricultural Trade to South America in Tariff Standoff

A soybean farm in Dwight, Illinois. Photo by SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Halting food and fuel imports from the United States will not negatively affect China’s food and energy security, a senior Chinese official said on Monday. Zhao Chenxin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China has sufficiently diversified its imports that a freeze in U.S. trade won’t affect it.

Energy and agricultural products are among the U.S.’s largest exports to China. “These products are highly replaceable, and the international market has abundant supplies,” Zhao said.

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