Trump tariffs wreck US agricultural exports

[VitaMan]

"Trump launched his tariff war earlier this year expressing confidence that China’s reliance on the U.S. market would force Beijing to accept trade terms that benefited American businesses and consumers. Six months after the president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and weeks from the Nov. 10 White House cutoff for a trade pact between the two countries, U.S. soybean farmers are learning that China — long the predominant market for their product — doesn’t need them anymore.




China has not purchased any U.S. soybeans since May, according to the American Soybean Association. Beijing has pivoted to suppliers in Brazil and Argentina.


All agriculture exports to China were down 53 percent in the first seven months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to USDA data.


The dramatic shift echoes China’s response to the tariff war during Trump’s first term when the value of U.S. soybean exports plunged to $3.1 billion in 2018 from $14 billion in 2016.


“How can we be surprised? It’s a repeat of Trump 1.0,” said Marc Busch, who has advised both the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department from 2012 to 2018 on trade and is a professor of international business diplomacy at Georgetown University. “They didn't need Liberation Day or fentanyl tariffs to get them to rush to this playbook — it had been well worn in the first Trump administration and to great effect.”


China’s move to stop buying U.S. soybeans underscores how Trump’s ambitions to use aggressive tariffs as a lever for better trade deals with Beijing have repeatedly backfired."

[Eaton Beaver]

Pah. Come on! This is 5-D Chess.

It is not surprising that this seems like a "bad" thing to you. I'll bet you don't understand Quantum Mechanics very well either, do you? And I bet you blame Trump for that too!

Deranged.

[farmstud60]

And still doing less damage than Democrats

[VitaMan]

The above 2 posts make no sense at all. Possibly because they can't find a way to defend Trump and the problems he has directly created. It was the same thing his 1st term as President.

[farmstud60]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

The above 2 posts make no sense at all. Possibly because they can't find a way to defend Trump and the problems he has directly created. It was the same thing his 1st term as President.

When you don't understand the big picture and only look to blame the other sides political party you aren't even open to understanding economics.


1. First off everyone knows U.S. Agriculture strongly supported Trump. So to put maximum pressure on Trump agriculture issues will be the last to find a solution.


2. Democrats don't grasp how much all their rules and regulations cost farmers. It is all about central power and having lawyers with no knowledge of the industry they regulate write regulations.

[Unique_Carpenter]

The soybean folks I know are all switching to corn next spring. All have had to go to their banks in late August. Some just plowed their bean crops under. The remaining issue is that most have to buy corn harvest heads for their combines and no one wants to buy a soybean head, or take a trade in. I've told the next door neighbor that I'd buy a bit of corn mash but that's all I can do unless he'd let me graze cattle on his land, but even that would be a huge revenue hit for him.

[VitaMan]

Some posters completely deny that Trump single handedly wrecked the soybean market for American farmers. He did it his 1st term......and now did it again.


The facts are the facts.