White House in a Bind as Soybean Sales to China Plummet to Zero

 https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-in-a-bind-as-soybean-sales-to-china-plummet-to-zero-10800487

“Finally – just a heads up, I’m getting more intel, but this is highly unfortunate,” read the message, which appeared to be sent from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “We bailed out Argentina yesterday (Bessent) and in return, the Argentine’s [sic] are removing their export tariffs on grains, reducing their price, and sold a bunch of soybeans to China, at a time when we would normally be selling to China. Soy prices are dropping further because of it. This gives China more leverage on us.”

The missive has also drawn new scrutiny to the Trump administration’s pledge to support Argentina with a possible $20 billion swap line and direct U.S. purchases of government debt. Days after the deal, Chinese importers bought more than a million metric tons of Argentine soybeans just as the American harvest season began.

“This is a five-alarm fire for our industry,” said Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer and president of the American Soybean Association, in an interview with the Associated Press. “We’ve had your back, President Trump. We need you to have ours now.”

China, once the largest buyer of American soybeans, has not purchased a single shipment since May, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In 2024, China bought $12.5 billion of the $24.5 billion worth of soybeans the U.S. exported globally—more than 50 percent. For months now, the figure has been zero.

Soybeans account for 14 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports, making them the top food export by value. Farmers and trade officials say the loss of the Chinese market is not only destabilizing current revenues, but also threatening the long-term viability of American farms built to meet Chinese demand.