US soybean farmers battered by trade row with China

In rural Maryland, farmer Travis Hutchison breaks up a soybean pod to demonstrate how a field is almost dry enough to reap during the US soybean harvest.

However, in a trade dispute sparked by President Donald Trump’s tough tariffs, China, which was once the largest consumer of US soybean exports, has halted orders, thus a respectable yield is insufficient to assure his income this year.

Prices for soybeans “are really depressed because of the trade war,” Hutchison responded to AFP. His family cultivates corn, soybeans, and other crops on 3,400 acres.

“I wasn’t against the president trying it, because I think we needed better trade deals,” added the 54-year-old of Trump’s policies.

But he expressed disappointment at how things played out: “I was hoping it would get resolved sooner.”

Hutchison is among American farmers — a key support base for Trump — reeling from the trade impasse.

The world’s second biggest economy in 2024 bought more than half the $24.5 billion in US soybean exports.

But exports to China have fallen by over 50 percent in value this year, and Chinese buyers have held off on new soybean orders from the US autumn harvest.

With lower demand, soybean prices are down about 40 percent from three years ago.

This comes as American soybeans have become pricier for Chinese buyers.

As Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese products in his second presidency, Beijing’s counter-duties on US soybeans rose to 20 percent.

This makes them “prohibitively more expensive” than exports from South America, where US farmers face growing competition, said the American Soybean Association (ASA).

Last month, Argentina suspended its export tax on key crops like soybeans, making them more attractive to Chinese buyers too.

Trump vowed to tap tariff revenues to help US farmers but has not provided details, while prospects of a longer-term deal appear more distant than ever.

On Friday, Trump promised additional 100-percent tariffs targeting China and threatened to scrap talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping over Beijing’s rare earth industry export curbs.

ASA president Caleb Ragland said the group had hoped top-level talks would restore soybean exports to China.

“These latest developments are deeply disappointing at a moment when soybean farmers are facing an ever-growing financial crisis,” he said.