China accelerates replacement of US products before China-US trade meeting: media
Published: May 11, 2025 02:18 PM
Bulk carrier Ever Radiance, fully loaded with Brazilian soybeans weighing 69,704 tons, slowly sails into the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port and docks at the terminal on April 24, 2025, in East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: VCG
China and the US kicked off on Saturday a high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting will continue on Sunday, a CGTN report revealed on Sunday.China moved to accelerate the replacement of US products before the high-level China-US trade talks in Switzerland, Yuyuantantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday.
China signed letters of intent with exporters of Argentina to purchase soybeans, corn, and vegetable oil shortly before the Geneva talks, according to Yuyuantantian. Rui Costa, chief of staff of the Presidency of Brazil, also visited China in late April, said the report.
Brazil expressed a desire to build sustainable, long-term, and actionable partnerships with China to jointly navigate an increasingly complex and volatile global environment, according to Yuyuantantian.
Earlier in April, China signed contracts to purchase at least 2.4 million tons of soybeans from Brazil—a volume equivalent to nearly one-third of China's average monthly soybean imports, the Yuyuantantian report said.
The report noted that these moves underscore China's efforts to secure alternative sources of US goods before the bilateral trade meeting started.
China signed a letter of intent with exporters in Argentina to buy about $900 million of soybeans, corn and vegetable oil, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
A delegation from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) visited Argentina on Wednesday and met with officials in charge of international trade and agricultural markets from the South American country, according to a statement posted on the council's website Thursday.
The Chinese delegates also held talks with local business representatives, focusing on expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation and defending the free trading system. CCPIT and the Argentine Chamber of Commerce for Asia and the Pacific also signed a memorandum of understanding, per the CCPIT statement.
Despite the headwinds posed by escalating US tariffs, China's foreign trade performed better than expected in April.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, while exports to the US fell 21 percent year-on-year to about $33 billion last month, overall Chinese exports rose 8.1 percent, with exports to non-US markets increasing 13 percent.
Over the first four months of the year, the year-on-year increase in China's exports to non-US markets was roughly 20 times the year-on-year decrease in exports to the US.
Global Times
RELATED ARTICLES
