National awareness of Trump’s China soybean problem 

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — When I traveled here this weekend to visit friends, I expected to be asked questions about the kinds of things that concern people in a liberal, resort community: farmers markets, food stamps, conservation, programs to support small farmers, such as farm to school sales. 

But to my shock, in bars, restaurants, at a party for an artist and on the sidelines of performances at the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, when people found out I was an agriculture reporter, they asked what the soybean farmers are going to do if they can’t sell soybeans to China.

They also wanted to know what the impact on President Trump’s reputation in rural America will be of China not buying U.S. soybeans while it buys from Brazil and Argentina.

But perhaps their awareness is not surprising. A cursory Google search of stories about China and soybeans showed that the major national news media are covering the subject, and there were continuing stories over the weekend. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. when asked about the lack of soybean sales to China, “As a consequence of that, there are — we’ve got a big harvest coming in here in South Dakota, corn and soybeans, and no place to go with it.”

Trump said last week that revenue from tariffs could be used to aid the farmers, although the technicalities of that are still unclear.

Thune added, “At the end of the day, our farmers are probably going to need some financial assistance this year, and a lot of the revenue coming in off the tariffs is what they would use to provide that.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a post on X last week questioned why the Trump administration had bailed Argentina out of its financial problems when the South American country had reduced taxes to encourage China to buy its soybeans.

Grassley wrote, “Why would USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market??? We [should] use leverage at every turn to help hurting farm economy. Family farmers [should] be top of mind in negotiations by representatives of USA.”

Farmers for Free Trade posted on X, “We are hearing a lot about this as we tour the Midwest on the Motorcade for Trade. People are not happy with a $20 [billion] bailout for Argentina as that country takes market from our soybean producers.”

Meanwhile the issue continues to make national and even international news, with the London-based Financial Times publishing a story to its subscribers.

Politico also posted a story for subscribers headlined “China weaponizes ag imports to target Trump and U.S. farmers.”

A Chinese official said last week that the U.S. government should remove its “unreasonable tariffs” to create conditions for expanding bilateral trade, CGTN reported. 

In answering questions this weekend, I said it seems unlikely that Trump and China are going to end their trade war anytime soon, although it’s possible either the Trump administration or Congress will figure out a way to provide aid to the impacted farmers.

As to Trump’s reputation, I said that rural Americans feel culturally aligned with the president.

Just as Trump, a native of the New York City borough of Queens, has a grievance against the elites in Manhattan over how they have treated him, rural Americans feel that the coastal elites treat them badly.

But soybeans are such an important crop and the rural economies in many states could be affected so much, rural Americans could rethink their support for Trump and his trade policies.