Chinese leader Xi Jinping has retaliated against President Donald Trump‘s imposed tariffs by halting all purchases of American soybeans.
While Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer are in Madrid, Spain this week to resume talks on tariffs with China’s vice premier for economic policy, He Lifeng, Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, spoke about the U.S. soybean farming industry on News Nation.
As seen below, Ragland (a farmer from Kentucky) said: “We depend on the Chinese market. The reason we depend so much on this market is China consumes 61 percent of soybeans produced worldwide. The rest of the world is 39 percent. Of the soybeans that American farmers produce, 25 percent currently have been going to China. And right now, we have zero sold for this crop that’s starting to be harvested right now.”
Soybean farmer: We depend on the Chinese market. And right now we have 0 sold for this crop. It's a 5 alarm fire for our industry. We are not price competitive with Brazil due to the retaliatory tariffs. Our prices are about 20% higher, and that means that the Chinese are going… pic.twitter.com/NWULmCNDSz
— FactPost (@factpostnews) September 15, 2025
Ragland added: “It’s a five-alarm fire for our industry that 25 percent of our total sales is currently missing. And right now we are not competitive with Brazil due to the retaliatory tariffs that are in place. Our prices are about 20% higher, and that means that the Chinese are going elsewhere because they can find a better value.
“And the American soybean farmers and their families are suffering. They are 500,000 of us that produce soybeans, and we desperately need markets, and we need opportunity and a leveled playing field.”
Ragland added: “There’s an artificial barrier that is built with these tariffs that makes us not be competitive.”
During Ragland’s appearance, News Nation showed a bar graph provided by the USDA which reveals that the country of Brazil produces the most soybeans in the world (40 percent), while the U.S. comes in second (28 percent). Argentina is third with 12 percent.
According to Farm Progress, “Soybean export shipments reached 8.6 million bushels from September 1-4. Mexico, Algeria, Taiwan, Japan and Tunisia were the top five destinations.”
