News

Markets watching for trade developments ahead of Trump-Xi talks

An ag economist says agricultural markets are watching for potential trade signals ahead of an upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and China’s president.

Greg McBride is the director of brokerage for Allendale…

“They still have this meeting at the end of this month and beginning of next month in Beijing. This is a face to face meeting, kind of a historic deal to have the president go over to Beijing and meet with President Xi.”

But McBride tells Brownfield there’s uncertainty about how the meeting will unfold amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

“The situation with Iran cuts off a lot of oil to China. There’s some concerns about whether or not that relationship might be on a little bit of shaky ground right now.”

McBride notes that a late-October meeting between the two leaders resulted in a key trade framework.

“Twenty five million metric tons of new crop beans for 2026, 27 and 28 – as well as the 12 million tons of old crop beans they’ve already purchased.”

Recent soybean trade has signaled support from expectations for improved export demand from China despite differing alliances in the Middle East.