Ensuring that China’s 1.4 billion citizens are adequately fed continues to top the policy agenda. While the Asian giant remains a key export market for largely Republican states in the Midwest farm belt, Beijing’s efforts to reconfigure supply chains after the trade war during the first Trump presidency have weakened Washington’s leverage.

US President Donald Trump has refused to say whether the US economy is facing a recession or price rises in the wake of his administration's changes to tariff threats against some of its closest trading partners. Asked if he was expecting a recession this year, Trump said there was a "period of transition" taking place.

The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone with President Donald Trump this past week to seek solutions after he slapped tariffs on their countries, but China’s president appears unlikely to make a similar call soon.