Industry awaits details of deal
President Trump’s meeting in China last week with President Xi Jinping produced some positive news for U.S. agriculture and raised expectations that poultry exports to the market could experience a critical revival as a result.
According to the White House, China will purchase at least $17 billion worth of total U.S. agricultural products each year through 2028, in addition to the 25 million tons of soybeans it committed to purchasing in October. Chicken paw exports could receive a significant boost, although the exact details of the agreement have not yet been made public.
China had previously been a key market for U.S. poultry exports, but exports have dwindled in recent years because China has not been lifting state-level HPAI bans according to the terms of a Regionalization Agreement signed in 2020. The agreement stipulates that if HPAI is detected in poultry, a statewide ban would be enforced on all products originating from the affected state. The resumption of imports and exports would then be approved 90 days after the virus had been eliminated from all impacted premises within that state.
Unfortunately, China stopped adhering to the agreement in August 2022 due to increased political tensions, and there are now 44 states that are ineligible to ship raw poultry products to China.
China represented a $1 billion export market for the U.S. in 2022, but that figure fell to approximately one-quarter of that amount in 2025.
USAPEEC President and CEO Greg Tyler said, “We are very encouraged by the announcement from the White House and are very appreciative of the work by the Trump Administration to help us regain access to this critical market.”
“Ultimately,” he said, “we hope this signals China’s willingness to abide by the regionalization agreement we have with them and that we can return to normalized trade with this important export market.”
.png)
