US farmers risk losing the market in China

Beijing can boost agricultural imports from elsewhere, senior official says

China can minimize the impact of raising tariffs on farm products from the United States by increasing imports from other countries and adjusting domestic agricultural patterns, but the US may lose the Chinese market that its farmers have been exploring for decades, a senior official in charge of agriculture has said.

Despite the plan by the administration of US President Donald Trump for up to $12 billion in subsidies for US farmers and the initial agreement with the European Union to increase imports of US soybeans to Europe, the US farm sector will suffer greatly due to the loss of the huge Chinese market, said Han Jun, deputy head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Affairs and vice-minister of agriculture and rural affairs, in an interview on Thursday.