Mnuchin says agricultural sales to China will 'take time to scale up' to $40-50 billion

• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that it will take time for Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural goods to "scale up" to the level touted by President DonaldTrump if the two sides can seal a "Phase 1" trade deal.
• Mnuchin told Reuters in an interview in Saudi Arabia that the $40 billion to $50 billion target is "a lot."
• "It's a one-year target, but obviously it's going to take some time to scale up," he said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that it will take time for Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural goods to "scale up" to the $40 billion to $50 billion annual level touted by President Donald
Trump if the two sides can seal a "Phase 1" trade deal.

Mnuchin told Reuters in an interview in Saudi Arabia that the $40 billion to $50 billion target is "a lot," but is based on "very specific discussions" of product purchase commitments by China.

"This is built on a bottom-up basis of both what we think we can deliver and what they think they need," Mnuchin said. "It's a one-year target, but obviously it's going to take some time to scale up."