According to The Hill, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the United States Trade Representative who is leading high-level negotiations with China, acknowledged Thursday that President Trump’s announcement on Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans was a “surprise.”
Trump had told reporters in the Oval Office a short time before that China agreed to purchase 5 million tons of soybeans from the U.S., adding “that’s going to make our farmers very happy. That’s a lot of soybeans,” according to pool reports.