China Pullback Deepens U.S. Soybean Crisis

U.S. soybean farmers are facing intersecting shocks: extreme Midwest weather has delayed plantings, forced costly irrigation, and left late‑planted crops at risk even as export demand collapsed. Chinese importers have not bought U.S. soybeans since May, the start of the new crop marketing year, after Beijing imposed roughly 20% retaliatory tariffs and shifted purchases to South America, creating large surpluses and costing U.S. growers billions. Farmers and groups including the American Soybean Association say the stoppage has shut them out of their largest export market, driving steep price declines—about $5 per bushel in recent losses and six‑figure hits on some farms—and threatening livelihoods in states from Kansas to Wisconsin. President Donald Trump said he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of APEC in about four weeks, vowed to make soybeans a central topic, and pledged to use some tariff revenues to aid farmers while accusing China of using purchases as a negotiating tactic and faulting the Biden administration. Soybean futures jumped as much as 1.9% intraday after Trump’s announcement, and traders, lawmakers and farm groups are pressing for trade leverage and targeted aid as the outcome of the Trump–Xi talks is being watched for any deal that could restore U.S. market share.