:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2240441146-cc27fdd244474668893b9f74ce49a329.jpg "Trump’s Trade War May Have Shrunk US Soybean Farmers’ Biggest Market For Good")
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Key Takeaways
- U.S. farmers may have permanently lost their share of the global soybean market, as the trade war has led China to seek alternative sources.
- The U.S. exported $12.6 billion in soybeans to China in 2024, nearly equal to the total amount exported to the rest of the world combined, making it one of America’s most significant agricultural exports.
U.S. soybean farmers are among the casualties of President Donald Trump’s trade wars, and one of their biggest sources of income may have been permanently scaled back when the smoke clears.
That’s according to a new analysis by Kiran Ahmed, lead economist at Oxford Economics, who forecasts that U.S. soybean exports to China are unlikely to return to their former levels even if the two nations strike a deal.
In 2024, before Trump’s second term in office began, U.S. soybean farmers exported $12.6 billion worth of their crops to China, making the country their largest customer according to the Department of Agriculture. That all came crashing down this year after China stopped buying U.S. soybeans altogether as part of the back-and-forth trade war that has raged in recent months.
“We do not expect China to purchase U.S. soybeans during the current U.S. export window and even though we anticipate China will resume purchases in the future, the U.S. is unlikely to regain its pre-tariff market share,” Ahmed wrote.
What This Means For The Economy
The collapse of soybean exports to China is one of the disruptive effects of the ongoing trade wars launched by President Donald Trump in his second term in office.
The drop in exports has left farmers struggling to find new markets for their crops. The White House is making plans to give farmers some relief by sending them $10 billion to $15 billion of the government’s new tariff revenues as a bailout, according to a report by Reuters citing unnamed officials.
The U.S. may have permanently lost its share of the soybean market, since China is shifting its supply lines to Brazil and Argentina, which have expanded production, Ahmed wrote.
China primarily uses soybeans to feed its livestock, making the beans a crucial part of its food supply, which Chinese officials aim to safeguard against potential future trade disputes. That’s unlikely to change even if trade talks between the U.S. and China later this month are successful, Ahmed wrote.
“Even as China returns to purchasing U.S. soybeans, and even if soybean tariffs are rolled back, China will continue to diversify its purchases with the U.S. unlikely to regain its lost market share,” he wrote.
