Analysts see Trump’s hailing of $50 billion in Chinese farm purchases as “meaningless”

Analysts see Trump’s hailing of $50 billion in Chinese farm purchases as “meaningless”

China is still distant from buying $50 billion worth of agricultural goods from the United States according to analysts from the industry. They cautioned that this could only pull through if substantial technical and political hurdles have been removed.

As part of the first phase of a deal in attempts to end the trade war with China, U.S. President Donald Trump lauded his counterparts for agreeing to make purchases of U.S. farm products worth $40-$50 billion.

However, Darin Friedrichs senior Asia commodity analyst at brokerage INTL FCStone threw some doubt on the pledge.

Freidrichs said he thought it was just “a meaningless big number, thrown out to get headlines” and that nothing was to come of it.

Despite this, the emerging deal between the two countries represents the biggest step to end the tit-for-tat tariffs that slowed global economic growth.