Farmers, especially soybean producers, are \\"living with the damage\\" done by tariffs and the resulting trade war as they face decisions on what crops to plant this year.

\\"The big thing that really sticks out for most of us in agriculture are the tariffs that are on our neighbors in Canada and Mexico, and then also with our largest trading partner, China,\\" said Nick Levendofsky, executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union. \\"We have seen the damage, and we're living with the damage from that move — from those tariffs, the trade war.\\"

Levendofsky spoke with The Capital-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, days before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down much of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Feb. 20. The case specifically dealt with the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs.

\\"The President asserts the independent power to impose tariffs on imports from any country, of any product, at any rate, for any amount of time,\\" Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the 6-3 opinion.

But the U.S. Constitution provides Congress with the power to impose taxes — including tariffs — and \\"did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,\\" Roberts said. The court held \\"that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.\\"

Soybeans have been hit especially hard by Trump's trade war.

\\"Soybeans are a major commodity grown here in Kansas, and China has tended to be our major buyer for soybeans,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"But now they have options, they can go elsewhere — and they have. They've invested their resources in South America, primarily Brazil and Argentina, and they've moved on from us.

\\"Now, yes, they are purchasing some soybeans, but it's not enough. And there isn't another customer out there that consumes it the way China does.\\"

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service data show a 76% drop in U.S. bulk soybean exports to China, from $12.6 billion in 2024 to $3.1 billion in 2025.

\\"We're kind of in a quandary right now,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"That's got a lot of farmers kind of wondering, you know, is it worth even trying to plant soybeans in the spring? They're making those plans right now. I think time will tell as to whether we'll see a larger soybean crop planted this next year.\\"

There are other factors farmers have to consider, he said, especially weather.

A year ago, Trump suggested American farmers could replace foreign markets with domestic markets.

\\"To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States,\\" Trump said in a March 3 post on Truth Social. \\"Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!\\"

For soybeans, that has not been the case.

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\\"The real, honest truth about that is we are overproductive,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"We are so good at what we do as farmers that we produce more than we can consume.\\"

Soybeans aren't commonly used for human consumption.

\\"It is primarily livestock feed and biofuels, and we just don't have enough livestock and we don't have enough demand right here in this country alone on the biofuel side,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"So demand is what really drives all of this. And when you lose that, it's basic economics. We have supply, the world needs to have the demand.

China has a lot of livestock that consume a lot of protein, he said, but they have largely turned to Brazil and Argentina for their soybeans.

\\"We're not the only ones playing this game anymore, and therefore, we have to think about alternatives. We've got to think about other places that we can go with it, other things we can do with soybeans and other possible markets for it,\\" Levendofsky said.

Agricultural groups have also criticized the Trump administration's deal to import beef from Argentina.

\\"We ship lean beef from other places all over the world because we don't grow a lot of lean beef in this country,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"We tend to value the more marbled and fatty beef, that's just part of the demand that we have in this country. But they grow a lot leaner beef in other places, primarily in South America.\\"

So while the U.S. was already importing lean beef, the \\"huge shipment of lean beef to help out the people of Argentina\\" has damaged American markets.

\\"Making announcements from Air Force One about it and then posting about it on Truth Social, that negatively affects the markets,\\" he said. \\"Whether that's intended or not, it does, and so therefore farmers suffer those consequences.\\"

Levendofsky also addressed the tariffs with Canada and Mexico.

\\"We get a lot of equipment out of Canada, a lot of equipment out of Mexico, so those steel and aluminum tariffs are hurting farmers,\\" he said. \\"That's just an additional cost on top of what farmers are already paying for equipment.

\\"Farmers don't get to pass that cost on to their customers like a business owner would. Farmers don't get to raise their prices to make up for the costs that are involved and their inputs and those kinds of things.\\"

The past year has not been easy, he said, especially since the \\"Liberation Day\\" tariffs were announced on April 2.

\\"I'm hopeful that we can move past all of this and start to rebuild some of these markets,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"It's done a lot of damage to those relationships, and we need to build them back. We need to grow new relationships across the world. We need to look at ways that we can expand our trade with other partners across the globe and look at other crops that we might be able to start sending to other places.\\"

In December, the Trump administration announced $12 billion in one-time bridge payments \\"to American farmers in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs.\\" Kansas farmers are projected to receive the third-highest payments of any state at $888 million, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Levendofsky said it was his understanding that the aid would start going out the week of Feb. 23.

\\"I don't look at it as a bailout,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"I think it is more to just quiet people down and get them to not talk about it as much.

\\"Plus, it's not bailing anybody out, frankly. It's only a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. It's not going to cover all of the losses that farmers have seen since this trade war began.\\"

North Dakota State University previously estimated farm losses in 2025 could reach $44 billion. Levendofsky said it may be closer to $50 billion now.

\\"The package that they released doesn't come anywhere near that,\\" Levendofsky said. \\"It's going to be a temporary relief.

\\"It is going to help some farmers pay some of the bills that they have on their inputs and maybe help to relieve some of their debt, but it isn't going to put enough money in their pockets to live on. It's not going to put enough money in their pockets to turn around and go out and buy the seed that they need for spring planting.

\\"So it truly is not going to cover the losses that they've had. But in a way, it's going to keep them quiet. \\"

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Soybean exports plunge as farmers absorb tariff damage