China imports a large portion of its soybeans from the United States. The American soybean sector has been held afloat because of the world’s second-largest economy acquiring much of its soybean needs from the U.S. But, like the orange industry taking a hit from last week’s plethora of tariffs on American exports, soybean farmers are expected to suffer.
On Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that it plans to institute a 25 percent levy on soybean imports as well as a wide variety of other agricultural products, including corn, cotton, beef, and wheat.
Soybean futures plunged more than five percent on Wednesday before paring those losses. Other futures contracts on the agricultural market plummeted: corn fell 1.5 percent, cotton slipped 2.1 percent, and orange juice tumbled 0.14 percent.
As part of its retaliatory efforts, Beijing listed 106 other products that will face duties moving forward. These range from chemicals to aircraft to high-tech goods.
The Dow Jones shed more than 300 points at the start of the Wednesday trading session over fears of the trade war only intensifying.
Sure, maybe President Donald Trump will save U.S. steel jobs (unlikely), but he is likely to kill jobs in a myriad of other sectors of the U.S. economy.
Scary.
dtinusforcongress says
Trade wars are swell! Just be careful which way you aim especially if you don’t know which end the bullet comes out! Here in the 27th Texas Congressional district we export over $200 million to China. We export more goods world wide than we get. We’re getting MAGAed.