Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/5/18

The White House on Monday morning finally weighed in on the trade meetings in Beijing this past weekend that were led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, issuing a statement that said no immediate breakthroughs were reached. But it made no reference to Beijing's threat on Sunday to halt the negotiations if the U.S. proceeds to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, Pro's Doug Palmer reports.

"The meetings focused on reducing the United States' trade deficit by facilitating the supply of agricultural and energy products to meet China's growing consumption needs, which will help support growth and employment in the United States," the White House said.

Crunch time coming soon: The Trump administration plans to issue a final list of some $50 billion in Chinese goods that it intends to hit with a 25-percent tariff by June 15, and impose the duties shortly afterward. That's expected to prompt China to retaliate on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods, including leading exports like soybeans. Trump, in the first of a pair of ag-focused tweets on Monday morning, seemed to allude to China taking that action.

"China already charges a tax of 16% on soybeans. Canada has all sorts of trade barriers on our Agricultural products. Not acceptable!" Trump tweeted. The U.S. last year exported more than $12 billion worth of soybeans to China, accounting for more than half of U.S. agricultural sales to that country.

Fact-checking POTUS on ag: Trump dug in with his second tweet. "Farmers have not been doing well for 15 years. Mexico, Canada, China and others have treated them unfairly. By the time I finish trade talks, that will change. Big trade barriers against U.S. farmers, and other businesses, will finally be broken. Massive trade deficits no longer!" But as Doug pointed out, Canada, China and Mexico are already the three biggest markets for U.S. agricultural exports, with each taking in about $20 billion in American farm goods.

"We have a surplus in agriculture trade," Angela Hofmann, deputy director of the advocacy group Farmers for Free Trade, wrote in a statement after Trump's tweet. "So by the President's own metric, U.S. agriculture trade has been winning. The only thing that could put that at risk are harmful tariffs that will tax the very exports our farmers depend on for their livelihoods. We can and should address non-tariff barriers but we can't do it in a way that puts major ag export markets at risk."