China urged the US on Tuesday to honour its commitments and create necessary conditions for bilateral agricultural cooperation.

The remark came after Beijing announced on Tuesday that Chinese companies have suspended buying US foodstuffs due to Washington’s “serious violation of the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries during their meeting in Osaka”.

“We hope the US will earnestly act on the consensus,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement released on the ministry’s website on Tuesday.

The suspension came less than a week after US President Donald Trump proposed on Thursday placing new 10 per cent tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods from September 1.

Trump’s move aroused strong opposition and the possibility of countermeasures from Beijing.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council will not exclude the possibility of imposing tariffs on US agricultural products that were purchased after Saturday, Hua said.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, Chinese companies had made deals for 130,000 metric tonnes of soybeans, 120,000 tonnes of sorghum, 75,000 tonnes of hay, 60,000 tonnes of wheat, 40,000 tonnes of pork and pork products, 25,000 tonnes of cotton, 5,700 tonnes of dairy products, 4,500 tonnes of processed fruits and 400 tonnes of fresh fruit from the US between July 19 and Friday.

Considering the huge Chinese market, there are bright prospects for importing quality agricultural products from the US, the Ministry of Commerce said in a separate statement, also released on Tuesday.

During their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in June, President Xi Jinping and Trump agreed to restart trade talks, and the US said it would not impose any new tariffs on Chinese products.

“The meeting spurred optimism because of the constructive consensus they achieved,” said Zhou Mi, deputy director of the ministry’s Institute of American and Oceania Studies of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Since then, China has made a series of US agricultural product purchases, “only to face a new round of tariff threats from the US”, Zhou said.

It takes efforts from both sides to maintain a consensus, not just from China, Zhou said, adding that the US should take concrete action to demonstrate sincerity for the economic and trade talks, instead of applying pressure.

“Washington should take action to solve problems rather than damaging its credibility,” said China Society for World Trade Organisation Studies vice-chairman Huo Jianguo. CHINA DAILY