U.S. – China Reach Phase-One Deal

On December 13, the U.S. reached a phase-one trade agreement with the Chinese government. As part of the agreement, China has agreed to purchase $40-$50 billion in U.S. agricultural commodities annually for two years while the countries continue to negotiate a second phase of the agreement. China has also agreed to accelerate its approval of biotechnology traits, a long-standing issue for many ASTA members.

For the Section 301 tariffs currently in place on many lines of vegetable and flower seed, it was announced that the scheduled increase to a 30% tariff rate has been postponed indefinitely. The current tariff rate of 25% will stay in place.