U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies during the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Judiciary, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on 2026 funding priorities at the Capitol on December 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday that the deadline for China to buy 12 million tons of soybeans from U.S. farmers is at the end of the “growing season,” not the end of December as the White House announced.
Greer’s comments at the hearing followed an NBC News report showing that China’s soybean purchases in recent weeks have fallen short of the agreed-upon amount by the end of the year.
China agreed in October to end a months-long boycott of U.S. soybeans amid a trade war, but has only purchased about 3 million tons so far, the trade representative told members of a subcommittee of agriculture, rural development, the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies.
Greer said there was a “discrepancy” between the White House’s deadline and the actual deadline for completing the purchase.
The most recent growing season for soybeans ended in November, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
CNBC asked Greer’s office whether there is a hard or rough deadline for China to meet the 12 million metric tons of purchases agreed to as part of a trade deal with President Donald Trump in October.
Greer’s disclosure was made in response to a question from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska).
“There remains uncertainty about whether and when China will fully honor these purchase commitments,” Fisher said.
He pointed to a White House fact sheet on the trade deal that says China will buy 12 million tons by the end of the year, contradicting recent comments from Greer.
“China will purchase at least 12 million metric tons (MMT) of U.S. soybeans in the last two months of 2025 and at least 25 MMT of U.S. soybeans in each of 2026, 2027, and 2028,” the fact sheet states.
Mr. Greer told Mr. Fisher, “This is for the growing season, so thank you for highlighting that.”
“I’ve heard from several farmers that they want to know about the discrepancy. It’s a discrepancy, and it’s throughout the growing season,” he said.
Joe Glauber, who served as USDA’s chief economist during the Obama administration, said in an interview with CNBC that he doesn’t know what the administration means when it refers to the growing season.
“This is in no way a term that the Department of Agriculture means,” Glauber said. “Does it mean harvest time or does it actually mean the end of the marketing year? Which is more common?”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said he expected China to reach the 12 million tonne level by “the end of this season.”
“So I think it will be February 28th,” Bessent said in an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times Dealbook Summit in New York.
“China is on perfect track to reach its goal,” Bessent said after Sorkin said U.S. Department of Agriculture data as of Nov. 14 showed China had purchased just 330,000 tons.
Bessent called the numbers cited by Sorkin “bad information.”
Glauber said the soybean sales year runs from September, when the soybeans are harvested and ready for sale, to August of the following year. With Brazil dominating the soybean market early in the new year, which coincides with harvest season and low prices, China is more likely to meet its U.S. purchase target by next August. The United States typically increases exports to China in the second half of the year when soybeans are cheaper.
But this is much longer than the two-month period the White House originally proposed when it announced its China framework.
“It’s been a long time,” Glauber said. “This is not an immediate remedy.”
CNBC has reached out to the Department of Agriculture for comment on Greer’s remarks.
