Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that China needs to fulfill the commitments it made to buy U.S. goods, including agriculture products, as part of trade negotiations. 

Bessent told Fox Business News that the Trump administration wants China to lower the tariffs it has placed on U.S. products and “honor” the commitments it made in 2020 for purchases.

Bessent said that China stopped buying U.S. products during the Biden administration, although the Biden presidency also coincided with the pandemic during which world trade in general was reduced.

According to a tracker published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China did not buy all the ag products it had promised in 2020 and 2021. It’s unclear how China’s move toward imports from South America in recent years would affect its needs and purchases. 

Asked by Fox host Maria Bartiromo about negotiations with the European Union, Bessent said he is not directly involved in the EU negotiations at the moment. Bessent noted that EU officials said French farmers are “special,” but that “I say American farmers are special.”

Bessent, who owns farmland in North Dakota, described himself as a farmer. 

He said he is focusing on Asia and has had discussions with officials from Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.

Bessent said he hopes the “one big, beautiful bill” that includes an extension of tax cuts will be finished by July 4 because House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said the House will finish the bill by Memorial Day, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said the Senate will finish it by July 4.