- With an eye on November's polls, president says he will enforce phase one agreement that will lead to major purchases of US produce
- Trump uses farm convention address in Texas to take swipe at looming impeachment
President Donald Trump sought to assure American farmers and ranchers hit by a protracted tariff war with China that a trade agreement he signed with Beijing last week will lead to major purchases of US agricultural products.
Trump's remarks in Texas, a state he won in 2016 and will need again in November's election, had all the hallmarks of a stump speech, with an attack on Democrats trying to remove him through impeachment and a wish he could wear a cowboy hat in Washington.
He began his remarks to the annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Austin on Sunday by waving a copy of a Farm Journal magazine poll that said he had wide support among farmers and ranchers.
Trump said the phase one trade deal he signed with China on Wednesday would be a boon for farmers, whom he thanked for sticking with him after he twice had to allocate multibillion-dollar bailouts for producers hit by Chinese tariffs.
"You stayed in the fight," Trump said. "You were always with me. You never even thought of giving up and we got it done."
His impeachment trial in the US Senate is set to begin in earnest on Tuesday.
"By these radical-left lunatics I get impeached. But that's OK, the farmers are sticking with Trump," he said.
US won't cut more China tariffs until after presidential election
The phase one deal with China was meant to reduce tensions after 18 months of a tit-for-tat tariff war between the world's two largest economies that has hit global growth.
It included a pledge by China to buy at least an additional US$12.5 billion worth of agricultural goods in 2020 and at least US$19.5 billion more than the 2017 level of US$24 billion in 2021.
Analysts said there were issues that remained unresolved. The agreement will leave in place 25 per cent tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese industrial goods and components used by US manufacturers, and China's retaliatory tariffs on more than US$100 billion in US goods.
Trump told the farmers he would vigorously enforce the trade deal to make sure China held up its side of the agreement.
"I think it's going to work out and I think China is going all-out to prove that the agreement that we signed is a good agreement," he said.
Trump also reminded the farmers that he had gained passage by Congress of a new trade deal between the US, Mexico and Canada that will replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. He said he would sign the deal soon, probably at a ceremony in the White House.
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