China's state grain buyer resumes US soybean purchases

BEIJING– China's major state-owned grain stockpiler said it has resumed buying US soybeans, as Beijing upholds a trade war truce with Washington reached earlier this month. 

It is the latest signal from China that it is pressing ahead with a December 1 agreement between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping aimed at resolving the trade dispute. 

"To implement the consensus reached by both the Chinese and American heads of state, our company has recently bought some batches of soybeans from the US," China Grain Reserves Corporation, or Sinograin as it is known, said in a brief statement on Wednesday. 

Trump and Xi agreed on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires to a 90-day truce while they try to find a solution to the escalating trade dispute. 

While China and the US initially provided differing accounts of the scope of their agreement, Beijing has recently begun to fulfil claims first put forth by White House officials after the Buenos Aires agreement. 

China said last week it would suspend extra tariffs added to US-made cars and auto parts for three months starting on January 1 -- a move that was first announced by Trump on Twitter shortly after his meeting with Xi. 

The tangible moves by China are a sign that trade negotiations remain on track. Beijing last week said that it would welcome US negotiators to visit the country for talks and the commerce ministry said Wednesday that a vice commerce minister held a phone conversation about "economic and trade issues" with US officials. 

Last week, China's top negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, also talked on the phone with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to exchange views on the timetable for the talks, though no date was set. 

Maintaining and resolving the trade truce could help stabilise sentiment in China, where confidence in the economy has been hurt by the trade frictions with key trade partner the US. 
---