China to Hold Import Quotas on Grains Steady in 2020?

A senior agricultural official in China, Han Jun, has confirmed that China is planning to hold its low tariff import quotas for corn, wheat and rice steady, according to a recent report on Caixin. However, it remains unclear how this move will allow China to increase agricultural imports from the US, one of the terms of the soon to be signed phase one trade deal.

In mid-December 2019, US President Donald Trump had confirmed that both sides were ready to finalize the phase one trade agreement which had initially been announced back in October following high level trade talks in Washington. As part of the partial trade deal, the US has agreed to suspend some tariffs and reduce some others against some Chinese imports. In exchange, China has committed to purchase more farm products from the US.

This was also confirmed by Han last month when he commented that China was set to import more wheat, rice and corn from the US. This had led to speculation that China could increase import quotas on grains, which presently face a tariff of 1%. Any additional imports beyond these quotas would incur an increased tariff of 65% on them.