Trump: I will pressure Xi, American farmers are affected because China is not buying soybeans

(Patria) - President Donald Trump has signaled that he plans to pressure Chinese leader Xi Jinping regarding the purchase of soybeans from the United States when they meet, as American farmers struggle with the consequences of his trade wars, AFP reported.

"Soybean growers in our country are affected because China, solely for 'negotiating' reasons, is not buying," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "I will meet with President Xi of China in four weeks, and soybeans will be the main topic of discussion," he added.

Trump said last month that he would meet with Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, which begins at the end of October. He also said he would travel to China next year.

The talks come after Washington and Beijing engaged in an "eye-for-an-eye" tariff war earlier this year, imposing escalating duties on each other's exports. Although both sides have since agreed to de-escalate tensions, this has been a shaky truce with long-term consequences. Trump reiterated plans on Wednesday to use some of the US tariff revenue to help farmers, while criticizing his predecessor Joe Biden for not implementing an earlier trade deal with Beijing that included increased purchases of agricultural products.

Trump's aggressive trade policies and their resulting consequences have burdened American farmers, including hitting export markets like China. The American Soybean Association (ASA) has urged Trump to prioritize soybeans in trade negotiations with Beijing. In August, it warned that Beijing's retaliatory tariffs were "pricing American farmers out of their largest export market ahead of the 2025 soybean harvest."

China is the world's leading buyer of soybeans, and the United States was once a major supplier to the world's second-largest economy. But "the US has not made any sales to China in this new marketing year due to the twenty percent retaliatory tariffs that China imposed in response to US tariffs," ASA President Caleb Ragland said last week.

"This has allowed other exporters, Brazil, and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of American farmers," he added in a statement. "The frustration is immense."

The first Trump administration provided aid to farmers, as his previous trade war had devastated exports to what was a huge market for American soybeans and pork, among other products.

During Trump's first presidency, retaliatory tariffs by the United States caused losses to US agricultural exports worth more than $27 billion from mid-2018 to the end of 2019.