China agrees to open market to US beef, gas

BEIJING—China announced on Friday an agreement with the United States to open its market to US beef, natural gas and certain financial services, a month after talks between their leaders.

The deal was reached weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump launched a 100-day action plan on economic cooperation during their meeting at the US leader’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April.

The announcement is also another indication that Trump is nurturing good relations with China after pledging to take punitive measures against the country during the US presidential campaign.

Trump had threatened to impose trade tariffs and label Beijing a currency manipulator, neither of which he has done.

Under the agreement announced by both nations, China will authorize US beef imports by July 16 while the United States will allow Chinese poultry exports.

China banned US beef following a case of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003.

Beijing had announced an end to a 14-year embargo on American beef last year, but the decision has yet to be implemented.

Regaining access to China, the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people, has been a key goal of American cattle farmers and long a demand of US policymakers.

The deal will also allow Chinese companies to buy liquefied natural gas from the United States.

China will also give permission to wholly foreign-owned financial services firms to provide credit rating services in the Asian giant.

The joint statement said the United States would send a delegation to China’s One Belt, One Road summit on Sunday and Monday. —AFP