China is unlikely to meet its targets to buy US goods under this year’s trade deal due to economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The targets in the deal implied China would purchase around $25 billion of US energy in 2020 and even more in 2021. China has so far this year purchased only $2 billion of that sum, near the year’s midway point, the latest data on US exports for the month of May showed.
As of May, China had purchased $5.4 billion of agricultural goods, with a goal for the year of $33 billion in purchases. That puts China behind, but it could still meet its targets. Agricultural purchases are 39 percent of the pace needed to hit the phase one goal. Agricultural purchases are heavily seasonal in the fall when major crops like soybeans are harvested, giving China time to catch up if the deal remains intact. China has purchased $19.5 billion of manufacturing goods, where the goal for the year is $84 billion.
Energy is far behind, running at only 18 percent of the pace needed to reach the goal. Catching up in the next 7 months would require massive purchases to begin immediately. To hit the goal, China would need to start purchasing more than $3 billion a month of energy, more every single month than it has been able to purchase in the past five months combined.
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Published on July 7, 2020 5:25 PM (GMT+8)Last Updated on July 7, 2020 5:25 PM (GMT+8)
