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Hong Kong a surprise tariff target

Some soybean importers from Hong Kong were not expecting to be targets when the Trump administration issued tariffs on dozens of countries.

Minnesota Soybean Growers Association executive director Joe Smentek is there as part of a USDA trade mission and says Hong Kong considers itself independent from China.

“Soybeans coming into Hong Kong had enjoyed a zero percent tariff, like most of the products coming into Hong Kong. So they were a little bit surprised to get caught up in the tariff war kind of thing going on.”

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China with seven and-a-half million residents.

He tells Brownfield the recent rollback of tariffs by both the U.S. and China is encouraging.

“Because most of the stuff that comes into Hong Kong does end up in mainland China, so very confused but very excited (and) I think a lot of questions yet to be answered here.”

Smentek says buyers in Hong Kong have long viewed the U.S. as a more reliable soybean market compared to South America, but the trade wars are damaging that reputation.

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