(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s encouraged by the trade deals President Trump is making during his Asian tour, but it’s still unclear if there will be an agreement reached with China to buy American products, especially agricultural products like soybeans. China had been the biggest customer of that crop, but halted all purchases earlier this year in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. “It would still give a great morale boost to farmers if they knew that China is going to be back in the market for our soybeans,” Grassley says. “Now, exactly when those first soybeans start flowing to China, I can’t give you a date on that.”

Grassley also couldn’t say if a deal with the Chinese this late in the year would be too little, too late for Iowa soybean growers, as China’s been buying beans from Brazil for many months. Grassley says the president’s making significant progress elsewhere. “I think the trip is already producing results,” Grassley says. “You heard announcement of trade deals with Malaysia, Cambodia and signed reciprocal trade framework for Thailand and Vietnam.” A few weeks ago, the president talked about offering farmers who’ve been impacted by retaliatory tariffs several billion dollars in relief, but that potential aid package is on hold due to the federal government shutdown.

Trump’s in the midst of a five-day trade trip in Asia and he’s scheduled to meet with China’s president in South Korea on Wednesday. Grassley couldn’t say what Iowa farmers should hope for from those talks. “That’s new negotiations,” Grassley says. “Don’t forget that China only fulfilled about two-thirds of their obligation to buy American products, including agricultural products, from the January 2020 agreement that we had, called the First Phase of the China agreement.”

Trump met today (Tuesday) with Japan’s prime minister, signing a wide-ranging deal on several fronts, including missiles and rare earth elements.