Market News & Headlines >> U.S. to Push China to Resume Beef Imports

U.S. trade negotiators will seek deals with China to resume imports of U.S. beef and to allow U.S. access to China's closed services sector as part of a plan to reduce China’s massive trade surplus with the U.S., White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday at a press briefing. 

Spicer said U.S and Chinese officials were still at the early stages of "fleshing out" a pledge made by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their first meeting in Florida last week to develop 100-day plan to help level out U.S.-China trade. 

Beef and financial services access, were among topics that U.S.-China talks would cover, he said. "I think, obviously, beef exports and additional market access in China, intellectual property, the ability to have foreign ownership, especially in the services industry, is something that has been a big prize of U.S. exporters and industry for a long time," Spicer said. 

China announced back in September that it had removed a ban on U.S. beef products from cattle aged 30 months or younger, but the U.S. and China have not yet agreed on the details of resuming imports, including Chinese requirements for traceability of the U.S. meat supply. As a result, no U.S. beef sales to China have occurred.

Spicer told reporters that no concrete changes to the earlier agreement resulted from last week’s meeting, but "the plan was to put together a plan" on beef and other issues.China has banned imports of U.S. beef since late 2003, when a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the state of Washington.