U.S. Department of Agriculture announces an interim agreement with China over the soybean dispute

Introduction: key points of the interim agreement: 1 China will not only accept the security certificate of the United States, but also the security certificate of other countries; 2 The United States hopes that China will set a suitable grace period after promulgating the implementation regulations; 3 The United States believes that the new GMO regulations implemented by China will not have a negative impact on the export of American soybeans to China China will accept the U.S security certificate and increase soybean exports Washington: the United States announced on Tuesday that it has reached a temporary agreement with the people's Republic of China to remove restrictions that have blocked U.S soybean exports since June Since the first consensus reached in October, U.S soybean exports to China have surged, up 8 percentage points from the same period last year US President George W Bush met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin during his visit to Shanghai in October for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and referred to the matter Other Bush administration officials also held consultations with Chinese officials on the settlement of the dispute At APEC, U.S ambassador Robert B Zoellick and Chinese foreign trade minister Shi Guangsheng reached a consensus that China will accept security certificates from the United States and other countries to ensure that American soybeans enter China In a letter dated November 26, China confirmed that it would accept the certificates as the basis for us soybeans to enter China before implementing new regulations on biotechnology "In our main soybean harvest season, U.S soybean exports to China have surged, which is crucial for American farmers," said Zoellick, a U.S trade negotiator American farmers need to be reassured that any new regulations that China may issue will not have a negative impact on our agreement We have made it clear that this is important to maintain a strong trade relationship with China, and we are trying to ensure that there will be no more disruption " "It's good news for American agriculture," said avinaman, head of the U.S Department of agriculture We try to solve this problem for our soybean growers China is the sixth largest agricultural export market in the United States, with soybean sales to China reaching US $1 billion last year We will work with the agency and Chinese officials to implement these regulations so that shipment of soybeans in this important market can be resumed " Since reaching a consensus in China in October, U.S soybean exports to China have surged, reaching more than 1.6 million tons in the first three weeks of October and November Although the U.S soybean export is still lower than the same period last year due to the suspension of shipment from June to September, the U.S soybean export to China in this market year is 8 percentage points higher than the same period last year China's acceptance of foreign certificates is a temporary measure that has been in effect until China implements its own biotechnology regulations China has not yet set a timetable for implementing the regulations Alan Johnson, chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S trade negotiations agency, will leave for China in mid December to further discuss the matter The U.S government will build a long-term solution on the basis of the interim agreement, which will have no adverse impact on Trade and will be consistent with China's WTO accession agreement U.S trade officials want China to provide an appropriate grace period after the new regulations are promulgated and notify Chinese importers of these moves.