Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 1/10/20

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is leading a delegation to Washington to participate in a signing ceremony on Wednesday for a partial trade agreement that would boost U.S. agricultural exports in exchange for the Trump administration scaling back some of its existing tariffs on Chinese products, reports the South China Morning Post.

President Donald Trump has touted that China committed to buying as much as $50 billion worth of U.S. farm goods annually within two years, but Beijing has not confirmed any specific numbers. Han Jun, a key member in China's negotiation team and a deputy agriculture minister, was quoted by a Chinese magazine this week saying the country has no intention of changing its grain import quota system. Analysts say that decision could make it hard for Beijing to meet U.S. demands.

American economists are also skeptical those exports could materialize, in part because the most U.S. agricultural products that China has ever purchased was nearly $26 billion in 2012.

Mums the word on "phase two": A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday did not provide details of a proposed phase two part of the trade deal , despite Trump tweeting that "At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!"