The Latest on the Trade War Between US & China

Farmers have been taking precautionary measures this year to find as much semi long term storage as possible for recently harvested soybeans following hard nosed negotiations between US and Chinese government officials over the tariffs charged on exchanged goods. Many growers are frustrated by the lack of progress and the fact that the price of a bushel of soybeans is down $2 from where it was a year ago.

And, frankly, I think some are scared that they will lose this year’s harvest, especially if they have to store soybeans for too long or cannot find enough storage for them. This is our livelihood, this is how we feed our families and pay our mortgages. I understand that President Trump is only trying to look out for what is best for the US as far as trade and tariffs are concerned. But, please, move things along a little faster.

Photo by Scott Walsh on Unsplash

Trump Wants to Talk Soybeans

Yesterday, it was announced that President Trump wants to include the soybean debate as a primary concern during his next talk with China. He plans to push for a commitment from them to restart imports of our soybeans regardless of what trade agreement is reached.

A 25% tariff was imposed by China on American-grown soybeans in retaliation for the tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese goods. That is why we had to start finding storage for our soybeans, it didn’t make sense to sell them at such a loss! Since the trade war began, China has sought out soybeans in South America so who knows if they will give us their business again when the dust settles. Fingers crossed on that one!

Photo by Danilo Cestonato on Unsplash

The next scheduled talk between the US and Chinese Presidents (Trump and Xi Jinping) will happen later in November at the Group 20 Summit in Buenos Aires.

In July of this year, the Trump Administration informed growers that they will be receiving $12 billion in federal aid to make up for some of the losses incurred by the trade war with China but that no aid is planned for the 2019 fiscal year.

Now that the midterm elections are over, we shall see if Congress and the House can come to some sort of agreement so that we can get some real change happening and growers will actually be taken care of because we really do feel left out in the cold lately.

What do you think? Do you think China will take us seriously and resume trade? Will the Trump Administration lessen their imposed tariffs on Chinese goods? I want to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading,

Jeff