China agrees to step up US farm goods buying - report

China plans to step up purchases of US farm goods to comply with the phase one trade deal between the two countries after talks in Hawaii, according to a report.

The world's second-biggest economy will buy more soybeans, corn and ethanol from the US after Covid-19 caused purchases to fall behind, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The Chinese government has asked state-owned agricultural buyers to make all efforts to meet the phase1 deal, signed in January.

The plan could ease concerns about trade disputes amid heightened tension between the two superpowers over matters such as the origins of Covid-19 and Beijing's imposition of new security laws on Hong Kong.

The first sign of progress in the countries' talks in Hawaii was when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted: "During my meeting with CCP Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, he recommitted to completing and honouring all of the obligations of phase 1 of the trade deal between our two countries."

China pledged to buy $36.5bn of American agriculture products under the phase1 deal, up from $24 billion in 2017, but it bought only $4.65bn in the first four months of 2020. It is not clear how the meeting in Hawaii came about because both sides have said the other asked for it.