A man holds a handful of soybeans at the Brooklyn Elevator in Brooklyn, Iowa. China purchased 1.13 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this week, an olive branch in a trade war. | Charlie Neibergall/AP photo trade In win for Trump, Beijing makes major U.S. soybean purchase

China purchased 1.13 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this week, offering a sign that the two countries are beginning to make progress in alleviating trade tensions.

The Department of Agriculture on Thursday reported the purchase, which historical data show is the ninth-largest daily sale of U.S. soybeans ever.


The move comes less than two weeks after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and agreed to a 90-day detente in their trade war as they worked out larger issues. As part of that truce, China said it would begin immediately buying U.S. agricultural products, purchases of which had slowed significantly since trade tensions ramped up between the two economies earlier this year.

The purchase, which is equal to about 41 million bushels, will make up only a fraction of the total soybeans typically sold to China in a normal year.

Including the purchase, the U.S. has sold roughly 55 million bushels to China in this marketing year, which began Sept. 1. That represents a 91 percent drop from the more than 600 million bushels sold to China at the same point last year, said John Newton, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation.

"We've still got a long way to go to get anywhere near what China typically buys in a normal year," Newton said. "But this is a step in the right direction."

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Some of Trump's top advisers had pointed to potential ag purchases as an early indication of whether Beijing would follow through on commitments it had made in Argentina. Trump himself had also said major sales were expected, tweeting days after the meeting: "Farmers will be a a very BIG and FAST beneficiary of our deal with China."

"We make the finest and cleanest product in the World, and that is what China wants," he added. "Farmers, I LOVE YOU!"