U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After Lighthizer and Mnuchin’s trip, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He may come to Washington for continued negotiations the week of May 6. On April 4, President Trump said it might take four weeks to put together a deal framework and two additional weeks to codify details on paper.
China is likely to lift its ban on U.S. poultry as part of a trade deal, according to Reuters on Wednesday. China has banned U.S. chicken since January 2015 due to avian influenza, which has been over for years.
The Chinese poultry market “has tremendous potential” for U.S. producers, Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council in Stone Mountain, Georgia, said to Reuters, valuing it at $500 million.
“With China’s situation with African swine fever, they’re going to have a real protein shortage in the near future,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects China’s total chicken imports will surge 68 percent this year to 575,000 metric tons, not including chicken paws.
