Chinese firms reportedly bought more than 600,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans on Thursday, the country’s largest buy overall since June. The purchases come amid other signs of a thaw in relations between the two countries ahead of trade talks set for next week in Washington D.C.

The soybean purchases, reported by Reuters, marked an apparent reversal from a Chinese Commerce Ministry statement in August that it was stopping all purchases of U.S. farm products. China is a major buyer of U.S. farm products and the move was apparently intended to target rural states seen as important to President Trump's 2020 reelection bid.

New trade talks were announced last week and both sides seem intent on creating a better atmosphere for the next round. Trump said Wednesday that he would hold off on imposing a scheduled tariff hikes on $250 billion of goods to 30%, up from 25%. The tariffs would go into effect on Oct. 15, two weeks later than previously intended.

Trump tweeted Thursday, "It is expected that China will be buying large amounts of our agricultural products!"

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is set to visit the United States next week. Beijing is reportedly limiting him to discussing trade issues and not national security ones, such as the status of Chinese telecom company Huawei, which the U.S. has blacklisted as a security threat. Beijing had previously demanded that it be included in the talks.