It would mark the first time such high-level US officials would attend the expo, which is widely used by Beijing to highlight its consumer market and fight against decoupling efforts, with the event previously attended by individual firms, trade organisations and regional officials.
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China’s Wang Yi calls for ‘in-depth’ Sino-US dialogue ahead of Antony Blinken talks in Washington
China’s Wang Yi calls for ‘in-depth’ Sino-US dialogue ahead of Antony Blinken talks in Washington
The US Heartland China Association, a bipartisan advocacy group, will also send a group of mayors from 20 inland US states to explore trade opportunities, the sources added.
The delegation follows a string of recent visits by US federal and state politicians, and also raises the possibility of an in-person meeting between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco in mid-November.
The USDA has confirmed it would lead a group of 17 exhibitors for the Shanghai expo, where a US agricultural product pavilion will be unveiled.
Co-hosted by the USDA and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai, the pavilion will showcase agricultural produce and technology from the US states of California, Idaho and Georgia.
Members of the US Meat Export Federation, the US Poultry and Egg Export Council, USA Rice Federation, the Cranberry Marketing Committee, the California Wine Institute and the Almond Board of California, among others, will also attend.
“As the first official US pavilion in CIIE history … [it] will showcase the strength of American products and highlight the rich agricultural trade between the US and China,” said Eric Zheng, president of AmCham Shanghai.
Agriculture has remained a bright spot for US-China relations despite the trade war, which was started by the Trump administration in 2018.
US-China trade deal a ‘historic failure’, misses target by over 40 per cent
US agriculture products featured predominantly in the phase-one trade deal signed at the start of 2020, which saw China pledge to buy an additional US$200 billion worth of goods and services over 2020-21, relative to 2017’s levels.The USDA said in a report earlier this year that agricultural exports to China reached a record US$36.4 billion in the 2022 financial year, with China “on track” to be the leading destination for US agricultural commodities for a third consecutive year.
The report also noted that some Chinese food service operators might have switched to domestic alternatives over the past few years due to the disruptions caused by coronavirus control measures and might not switch back to imported products.
The report also put US companies on alert for weaker importer confidence in China resulting from political tensions with its trading partners amid an economic downturn.
“China has become the largest market for US chicken exports in terms of value, with more than US$1.2 billion worth of US chicken exports in 2022. In the first nine months of this year, China imported 200,000 tonnes of chicken products from the US, amounting to US$650 million,” said Edward Xie, China director for the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.
“China-US agricultural cooperation complements each other’s advantages. We hope that through our first-ever participation in the China import expo, more Chinese consumers will know that US poultry is safe and healthy and promote the development and expansion of China-US poultry trade.”
Beijing has a tradition of boosting its imports from the US to set an amicable tone and mend ties with Washington.
On Tuesday, an editorial by the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, hailed the recent uptick in ties and urged more efforts to stabilise the relationship and return it to the track of healthy and stable development.
“China always believes that both countries should not be rivals, but partners with goodwill reciprocated,” the People’s Daily editorial said.
“China always hopes that bilateral ties should improve rather than descend into conflict and confrontation and that both sides should cast off any confrontational mindset, respect each other’s interests and concerns and seek the greatest common denominator for exchanges and cooperation.”
Organisers expect more than 2,000 exhibitors from 100 countries and regions to attend the sixth edition of the China International Import Expo, with a total exhibition area of 360,000 square metres (3.9 million sq ft).
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