{"id":62904,"date":"2025-10-09T05:30:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T05:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/62904\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T05:30:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T05:30:31","slug":"soybeans-are-new-rare-earths-xi-hits-trump-where-it-hurts-us-heartland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/62904\/","title":{"rendered":"Soybeans are new rare earths: Xi hits Trump where it hurts – US heartland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SoybeansAI image for representation only. TL:DR: Driving the newsChina, once the biggest buyer of American soybeans, hasn\u2019t booked a single purchase from this year\u2019s US harvest – sending prices tumbling and farmers into panic. The abrupt halt mirrors Beijing’s previous use of rare earth exports as leverage in trade wars. Now, it’s soybeans.US President Donald Trump<\/a> said he\u2019ll confront Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> about the freeze at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea later this month.<\/p>\n

Trump Aide Exposes American Dependency On China For Critical Minerals Crucial For Weapons | Watch<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for \u2018negotiating\u2019 reasons only, not buying,\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social. \u201cSoybeans will be a major topic of discussion.\u201dMeanwhile, US farmers, many of whom backed Trump in 2024, are warning of a “bloodbath” in rural America if the situation doesn’t change fast.Why it mattersSoybeans are more than just beans – they\u2019re America\u2019s No. 1 food export, a $60 billion industry that underpins much of the rural economy.This year, the US is sitting on a record crop with nowhere to sell it. China buys about 61% of the world\u2019s traded soybeans, making it irreplaceable as a buyer. This year? China has bought zero soybeans from the current US harvest, down from $12.6 billion in purchases last year.The shift is part of a broader trade chess match, as Beijing flexes economic muscle in response to Trump\u2019s renewed tariffs.\u201cUS soybeans now are not that important to China,\u201d wrote Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings. \u201cThat\u2019s why Beijing can afford to use the import ban as a bargaining tool.\u201dMoreover, Trump tariffs have raised costs for fertilizer and equipment, squeezing profit margins.Farmers across the Midwest are storing crops, delaying sales, and watching futures markets sag. \u201cThere\u2019s no incentive to sell right now,\u201d Morey Hill, Iowa soybean grower, told WSJ. If a deal with China isn\u2019t reached soon, Hill said, the soybean market \u201cmight be a bloodbath.\u201dUS farmers face a double blow – higher expenses and fewer buyers.Between the lines: The rare earths playbookThis isn’t just about soy. It\u2019s a strategic repeat of what China did with rare earth minerals earlier this year.Earlier this year, Beijing used its dominance of rare earth exports-a critical input for electric vehicles, military hardware, and semiconductors-as a pressure point in talks with the Trump administration over export controls. Trump eased off. Now, Beijing is doing the same with soybeans, just as harvest begins. \u201cBeijing\u2019s new bargaining chip is an import ban on US soybean,\u201d Nomura\u2019s Lu Ting wrote, according to a Bloomberg report.While soybeans may lack the exotic appeal of rare earths, they are a critical input for China\u2019s massive hog and poultry industry. But as trade tensions escalate, China has been stocking up from South America. In September alone, it bought 2 million tons of soy from Argentina.\u201cI always thought I would farm till they threw dirt on top of me,\u201d Dean Buchholz, who\u2019s farming his last crop this year, told the WSJ. He\u2019s quitting not because of age, but because the economics no longer add up. \u201cI can\u2019t make it work to where it would be practical to keep going without me spending a boatload of money and keep putting myself into more debt.\u201d”The frustration is overwhelming,” said Caleb Ragland, 39, a Kentucky farmer and president of the American Soybean Association.And the timing is brutal. More than half of US soybean exports typically happen between October and December, just after harvest. China is holding off until Brazil\u2019s crop is ready in February.Farmers are increasingly cynical. \u201cWe knew what Trump would do,\u201d said Sarah Taber, a North Carolina crop scientist and blogger. \u201cAnd a lot of farmers just voted for him anyway.<\/a>\u201dIf no deal is struck by December, US soy could miss the entire global buying window.Global chessboard: China\u2019s leverageChina has played its cards well:Bought up Brazil\u2019s entire soy supply for the year.Secured Argentine beans during a brief export tax holiday.Blocked US beans just in time to pressure Trump.Beijing knows American farmers are Trump\u2019s base – and sees them as leverage. That pressure is already working.\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate the Chinese leadership has decided to use American soybean farmers as a pawn in the trade negotiations,\u201d said treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who himself owns farmland in North Dakota.Gabriel Wildau of Teneo called soybeans \u201cthe lowest-hanging fruit\u201d for a trade win – but warned: if the US and China can\u2019t agree on soy, good luck negotiating TikTok, Taiwan, or semiconductors.Bailouts and band-aidsTrump has promised help. Again.\u201cI\u2019m going to do some farm stuff this week,\u201d he said at the White House, teasing an aid package that-if history is any guide-could run between $10 billion and $50 billion. In 2019 and 2020, farmers received more than $45 billion in federal support, much of it in response to earlier trade wars and pandemic shocks.But many farmers aren\u2019t eager for more checks from Washington.\u201cAll farmers are proud of what they do and they don\u2019t like handouts,\u201d Iowa\u2019s Robb Ewoldt told AP. \u201cWe\u2019d rather make it with our own two hands.\u201dStill, the math doesn\u2019t lie. Farming equipment, fertilizer, and fuel costs have soared, while crop prices have tanked. According to projections from North Dakota State University\u2019s Agricultural Risk Policy Center, US row crop farmers stand to lose up to $45 billion this year alone-before any government support.With harvest season underway and the federal government paralyzed by a shutdown, aid payments are delayed. And even if they arrive, they won\u2019t restore lost markets.What’s nextIn the 21st-century global economy, leverage doesn\u2019t always come in the form of missiles or microchips. Sometimes it looks like a soybean. And in the hands of a strategic rival, even a humble crop can become a diplomatic weapon.China knows what it\u2019s doing. It\u2019s punishing Trump where he\u2019s politically vulnerable, economically exposed, and slow to react. And it\u2019s doing so at a moment when American farmers are too broke to fight, and too proud to ask for help.Whether Trump strikes a soybean deal at APEC or not, the damage is done. The United States built its food exports on predictability. Now, that predictability has been replaced by politics-and a bitter harvest no one wanted.(With inputs from agencies)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI image for representation only. TL:DR: Driving the newsChina, once the biggest buyer of American soybeans, hasn\u2019t booked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,54,184,85,46,46251,32676,46250,8429],"class_list":{"0":"post-62904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-soybeans-are-new-rare-earths","14":"tag-us-china-trade-war","15":"tag-why-china-is-not-buying-us-soybeans","16":"tag-xi-jinping"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}