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Trump Vows to Confront China Over Its Refusal to Buy US Soybeans

(Bloomberg) -- US President Donald Trump said he would confront Chinese President Xi Jinping over Beijing’s refusal to purchase American soybeans, a growing area of tension between the world’s two largest economies.

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Trump has said he would meet Xi later this month at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The US president has come under mounting pressure from Republican lawmakers from the agricultural heartland to break the impasse with China over soybean purchases, which has squeezed farmers.

“I’ll be meeting with President Xi, of China, in four weeks, and Soybeans will be a major topic of discussion,” Trump posted Wednesday on social media. “The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying.”

Soybean futures jumped after the post by as much as 1.9%, before paring gains slightly, the biggest intra-day move since Aug. 21.

The president accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of doing nothing to “enforce” a soybean purchase agreement that was included in a so-called Phase One trade deal with China during Trump’s first term. He also reiterated his proposal to use tariff revenue to fund a yet-to-be-announced aid package for struggling farmers.

“It’s all going to work out very well. I LOVE OUR PATRIOTS, AND EVERY FARMER IS EXACTLY THAT!” Trump posted. “MAKE SOYBEANS, AND OTHER ROW CROPS, GREAT AGAIN!”

As the world’s top soybean buyer, China wields enormous influence over global markets. Now it’s reviving a familiar tactic of holding back on US purchases — deployed during the first trade war under Trump — as the two countries navigate a fragile truce.

Data from the US Department of Agriculture show China hadn’t booked a single cargo as of Sept. 18, weeks into the new marketing season — a first in records going back to 1999. Last year, the US made up one-fifth of China’s soybean imports, worth more than $12 billion, and accounting for more than half of total US soy export value.

The US and China are in the midst of a trade détente that expires in November, under which the countries lowered tit-for-tat tariffs and other export controls. Trump spoke earlier this month with Xi to set the stage for their APEC discussions in late October — a face-to-face meeting where trade is expected to be high on the agenda.

Trump’s comments came a day after Republican senators expressed discouragement after meeting with US Ambassador to China David Perdue, saying Beijing won’t resume US agricultural products any time soon, and that there was no apparent solution aside from a bailout that would only help in the short term.

Trump’s plan to use tariff money to aid farmers could prove risky. The president’s sweeping duties imposed using emergency powers have been ruled illegal by lower courts, and if the Supreme Court affirms those decisions, the US government could have to pay back tens of billions of dollars in refunds.

American farming communities, which largely voted for Trump in 2024, have experienced economic pain during his second term, as export markets for crops have dried up in the wake of the president’s trade wars and federal safety-net programs have shrunk. That has created a potential political vulnerability for the president’s fellow Republicans heading into next year’s midterm elections.

--With assistance from Michael Hirtzer.