ASA presses President Trump to end China tariff standoff

The American Soybean Association is urging the White House to resolve a trade dispute with China that has shut US farmers out of their most important overseas market just as the 2025 harvest begins.

In a letter sent Tuesday, August 19, to President Donald Trump, ASA President Caleb Ragland said farmers are facing a “trade and financial precipice,” squeezed by falling prices and rising input costs. The group is pressing the administration to remove Chinese retaliatory tariffs and secure purchase commitments from Beijing.

Soybeans are the United States’ largest agricultural export, and China is the dominant global buyer, taking in more than 60% of traded supplies in recent years. Before the 2018 trade war, roughly 28% of US soybean production was shipped to China, but that share has since eroded to 22%. Brazil has stepped in to fill the gap, expanding production with Chinese investment and now producing 42% more soybeans than the US.

The financial consequences are mounting. November soybean futures in Chicago fell below $10 a bushel earlier this month, more than 5% lower than mid-July levels, while average production costs hover above $12. Cash prices in the Northern Plains, where exports to China once drove demand, have weakened further as traders report no forward sales to Chinese buyers for the coming crop year.

The ASA also released a white paper outlining the long-term financial risks of losing market share in China, warning that continued tariffs could lock US growers out of a market they spent decades building. The report highlights how weaker futures prices, higher storage costs, and lost export sales could deepen farm losses well beyond this season, with ripple effects across rural economies.

The shift underscores a broader risk: prolonged tariffs could leave American farmers permanently sidelined in a market they once dominated. “Every day without an agreement further erodes US farmers’ market share in China,” Mr. Ragland wrote.