China has agreed to buy at least $17 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products each year through 2028, the White House said, following President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
According to a White House fact sheet released Sunday, the commitment will apply to 2026 on a prorated basis for the remainder of the year and continue at the same minimum annual level in 2027 and 2028. The purchases are separate from China’s earlier pledge to buy at least 87 million metric tonnes of U.S. soybeans, made during a Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea last October.
The White House said China will also restore market access for U.S. beef by renewing expired listings for more than 400 production facilities and resume poultry imports from states certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as free of avian influenza.
Trump and Xi also agreed to create two new mechanisms — the U.S.-China Board of Trade and the U.S.-China Board of Investment — to manage bilateral trade and investment issues. The White House described the bodies as central to a broader effort to stabilise economic relations between the world’s two largest economies.
China had not publicly confirmed the agricultural-purchase commitment at the time of the White House announcement. Trade analysts cautioned that Beijing’s silence matters because past U.S.-China trade announcements have sometimes differed in detail or emphasis when each side later released its own account.
The announcement follows a summit that produced warm public messaging but limited confirmed agreements. The White House said the two leaders discussed economic cooperation, Iran and keeping the Strait of Hormuz open. Taiwan was not mentioned in the U.S. summary, despite Xi warning that the issue must be handled carefully to avoid conflict.
For U.S. farmers, the promised purchases could provide relief after years of reduced Chinese demand. China sharply cut its reliance on U.S. farm goods during recent trade tensions, with its share of U.S. soybeans falling from 41 percent in 2016 to about 20 percent in 2024.
Still, economists say the deal’s impact will depend on whether Beijing follows through, how purchases are distributed across commodities and whether broader U.S.-China trade frictions ease. Until China confirms the terms, the agreement remains a major White House claim rather than a fully documented bilateral commitment.
