The U.S. and China have “pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism,” a major hurdle in trade talks between the two nations. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC Wednesday that both sides have agreed to establish enforcement offices as part an effort to reach a trade agreement.
Enforcement is a top priority and one of the most difficult to agree on, as previously stated by the Trump Administration. Meanwhile, earlier this week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue described ongoing talks with China to cut ethanol tariffs “positive” for U.S. farmers.
However, Perdue warned the talks were not over. Perdue says lowering ethanol tariffs in China “would obviously be good for our domestic corn industry,” but “it’s never over till it’s over with the Chinese.” Last year, China imposed up to 70 percent tariff levels on U.S. ethanol as part of the tit-for-tat trade war between the two nations.
An industry source told Reuters the expectation is China will decrease the ethanol tariff level to five percent and push for E10 fuels in China.