On Tuesday April 5th, President Trump and the U.S. Trade Representative unveiled a list of over 1,300 Chinese products that are to have increased tariffs, in an attempt to punish China for its unfair Trade Practices. The list covers $50 billions worth of products, such as heavy machinery and high tech components. Wednesday, China responded by announcing a list of 106 American products they are planning to put tariffs on worth about $50 billion. This list includes soybeans, cotton, corn, and other agricultural goods. This response by the Chinese has worried lots of American farmers. Soybeans are the number one U.S. agricultural export to China. China buys half of U.S. soybean exports at $14 billion annually. Market prices for soybeans have already plummeted and went down 33 cents on Wednesday. Tariffs could make the soybeans less competitive to Chinese buyers and cause them to turn to Brazil, which is already China's biggest soybean supplier. This could cause a huge impact to the U.S. farming economy. CNN Money has a really informative video on the subject.
In response to China's attack on U.S. agricultural industry, President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States would consider slapping tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods, escalating a potentially damaging trade dispute with China. According to the New York Times, "On Friday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the United States of starting the conflict and said that 'the Chinese position has been made very clear. We do not want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight a trade war.'”
Concerns have been raised about how far this trade dispute will go and how it will hurt jobs and business that depend on China. We will have to wait and see what this trade conflict means for the future of soybeans and other American exports and imports.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/05/business/china-us-trade-conflict.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/us-names-chinese-products-under-proposed-tariffs.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/trump-asks-us-trade-representative-to-consider-100-billion-in-additional-tariffs-on-chinese-products.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/07/us-farmers-in-precarious-position-with-china-amid-trade-war-fears.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/business/stock-markets-trade-war.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
It's crazy that over 1,300 products are getting increased tariffs, especially agricultural goods. I come from a farming community and know a lot of people whose living is earned off of agricultural farming. I can't imagine how nerve racking this is for them, especially since soybean prices have gone down 33 cents already.
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