CHINA has halted its purchases of U.S. agricultural products and will not rule out levying import tariffs on American farm imports purchased after Aug. 3, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said yesterday.

“Related Chinese companies have suspended purchases of U.S. agricultural products,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement posted shortly after midnight in Beijing yesterday.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry did not disclose the value of U.S. agricultural imports that may be subjected to new import tariffs.

U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up tensions between the two countries last week when he vowed to impose a 10 percent tariff on US$300 billion of Chinese imports from Sept. 1, a decision China’s Commerce Ministry said was a “serious violation” of the consensus struck by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump in Osaka in June.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall called the announcement from China “a body blow to thousands of farmers and ranchers who are already struggling to get by.”

Tariffs imposed by China on U.S. soybeans have slashed exports of the most valuable U.S. crop and forced Trump’s administration to compensate farmers for two years with combined spending of as much as US$28 billion.

China imported US$9.1 billion of U.S. farm produce in 2018 — mainly soybeans, dairy, sorghum and pork — down from US$19.5 billion in 2017, according to the American Farm Bureau.

The U.S. National Pork Producers Council said in an email it was important to end the trade war so pork producers could “more fully participate in a historic sales opportunity.”

U.S. meat exporters had hoped to take advantage of the African swine fever outbreak in China to export more pork to China but 62 percent retaliatory tariffs have limited sales from the United States.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement it hoped the United States would keep its promises and create the “necessary conditions” for bilateral cooperation.

Overall, China has purchased about 14.3 million tons of last season’s soybean crop, the least in 11 years, and some 3.7 million tons still need to be shipped, according to U.S. data. China bought 32.9 million tons of U.S. soybeans in 2017, before the trade spat.(SD-Agencies)