Soybeans slump as Trump threatens more tariffs on China goods

(Bloomberg) — Soybean futures plunged, extending earlier losses, after US President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs on China’s goods and said there was “no reason” to meet with Chinese President Xi Jingping.

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Trump’s social media posts contributed to dimming hopes for a US-China trade accord that could restart stalled American soybean exports, with growers busy harvesting while their top export market remains shut.

Chicago soybean futures fell as much as 1.9% to $10.025 a bushel, hitting session lows after the posts. The intraday decline is the biggest since July 7.

Equities markets and other commodities — from oil to wheat and copper — also dropped after the president’s comments. Cotton futures fell to the lowest since April as the renewed threat against China, a major cotton buyer, will further hit demand. China has already purchased significantly less cotton from the US amid low demand and trade tensions.

“The thought is China will not buy US beans now,” Joe Davis, a director at brokerage Futures International LLC, said of traders’ reaction.

US farmers have yet to ship any soybeans to China, the world’s top importer, this season. Beijing has turned to other exporters, including Brazil and Argentina, for its supplies. Trump said as recently as Thursday that the pressure he would bring on the Chinese president during their planned sit-down later this month would end Beijing’s months-long moratorium on US soybean buys.

“I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump posted Friday.

Earlier, China announced special fees on US ships docking at its ports, a tit-for-tat measure signaling that trade tensions between the two sides are likely to persist. The measure kicks in Oct. 14, the same day that Washington plans to impose new charges on large Chinese ships calling at US ports.

“This market had been propped up by hopes of a commodity trade deal with China, but a dose of reality set in overnight,” Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX, said before Trump’s comments. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t get a deal, but the market is dealing with the realities of how difficult that might be to achieve.”

Suderman said later that US-China relations are at a new low, with Trump’s statement reflecting a significant escalation.

The latest developments are “deeply disappointing at a moment when soybean farmers are facing an ever-growing financial crisis,” said Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, adding that the group hopes talks can be put back on track.

Farming communities, which voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the 2024 election, have been hit as export markets have dried up and many federal-safety net programs have shrunk during his second term.

The Trump administration has teased billions of dollars in federal aid for struggling farmers, but Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday signaled that a package is on hold with the US government shut down.

Data on US crop production and harvest progress is also delayed during the shutdown. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect US soy supplies to increase with a lack of exports.

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