中国国家副主席习近平星期三访问美国爱奥华州的一个农业社区。27年前，习近平曾经作为一名中层官员访问过该地区。习近平被认为将担任中国下届国家主席，他在马斯卡廷镇度过了一个小时，与当地居民一起喝茶。很多人说，习近平还记着一些人的模样，并回忆了他1985年第一次访问时的情景。和习近平会面的人当中有当地居民汤姆·胡普斯，习近平上次考察美国农业情况时，曾经访问过他的农场。习近平将于星期四在洛杉矶结束这次美国之行。星期三晚些时候，习近平在爱奥华州首府德梅因出席正式宴会时强调说，他对人与人的接触很感兴趣。
 
习近平在爱奥华州州长布兰斯塔德主持的宴会上说，他到美国来的目的是促进合作关系。随同习近平访美的官员宣布了购买价值43亿美元大豆的计划，这一举措很可能得到美国农民的欢迎。这将是中国迄今为止从美国购买大豆最多的一次。

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited a farming community in ((the Midwestern state of)) Iowa Wednesday, 27 years after he first visited the area as a mid-level official.The man presumed to be China's next president spent an hour sipping tea with residents in the town of Muscatine, and many said he remembered faces and recited events from his previous visit in 1985. Among those who met with Xi was local resident Tom Hoopes, whose farm Xi visited during that earlier trip to study U.S. agricultural practices. Xi, who concludes his U.S. tour with a visit to Los Angeles Thursday, stressed his interest in person-to-person contacts during a formal dinner later Wednesday in the Iowa state capital, Des Moines.
 
At the dinner, hosted by state Governor Terry Branstad, Xi said he is in the United States to advance cooperative relations. In another move likely to be popular among American farmers, officials traveling with Xi announced plans to purchase $4.3 billion worth of U.S. soybeans. The 12-metric-ton purchase will be China's largest such deal to date.