US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business that some progress were made in last week’s deputy-level meetings with China on trade. He also indicated that he would meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in two weeks. He added that Chinese purchases of US farm products were “good news”.

The cancellation of Chinese official’s visit to US farms were on request of the US, as Mnuchin confirmed. He noted, “we just decided the timing of the trip wasn’t necessarily the perfect timing, so they’ll be rescheduling that to after our trade meetings.” Still, “it’s a sign of good gesture that they are back at the table buying agriculture.”

US Trade Representative Office is temporarily exempting more than 400 lines of Chinese import from tariffs imposed last year. Exclusions included Christmas tree lights, plastic straws, dog leashes and printed circuit boards. According to USTR documents, the exemptions stem from more than 1100 exclusions requests made by companies and other entities in US.

For now, the exemptions on their own are seen as a move to address the tariffs impact on US companies, rather than concessions to China. Nevertheless, the timing is interesting as both sides seem to be creating some positive atmosphere for October meeting.

Deputy level US-China trade talks stated yesterday in Washington in preparation for the top level meeting next month. It’s reported that agriculture was having a disproportionate amount of time in the discussions. But there is not official confirmation of the news. Yet separately, Agriculture Department Secretary Sonny Perdue said yesterday that Chinese officials will visit American farms next week as part of efforts to “build goodwill.” But he wasn’t sure if China will announcement any purchases during the visit.

At the same time, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reiterated that the administration is pushing for something “more complicated than just buying a few more soybeans.” He told Fox Business Network that “what we need is to correct the big imbalances, not just the current trade deficit, but also the structural imbalances, the impediments to market access, disrespect for intellectual property, forced technology transfers.”

Chinese Vice Finance Minister Liao Min is leading a delegation of around 30 Chinese officials to meet with US Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish at the USTR office near White House today. It’s reported that the discussions will focus heavily on agricultural purchases, with some focuses on intellectual property protections and forced technology transfer.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said today that “we will find out very, very shortly in the next couple of weeks” on what China exactly wants. But he emphasized that “what we need is to correct the big imbalances, not just the current trade deficit… It’s more complicated than just buying a few more soybeans.”