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Trump tariffs a concern for ag

President Trump’s latest round of tariffs has agriculture groups concerned.

Virginia Houston with the American Soybean Association says soybeans and soy farmers have been the poster child of the trade wars.  She says when President Trump levied Section 301 tariffs against China in 2018, China immediately retaliated with a 25% tariff on ag commodities including U.S. soy. “What our farmers saw was almost overnight, prices dropped by two dollars a bushel and we were locked out of our largest export market, so what that really did aside from the economic impact was that gave rise to some of our biggest competitors.”

Houston says Brazil is the big competitor that gained market share going back to 2015, becoming the world’s biggest producer and exporter of soybeans. “When U.S. soy was locked out of the Chinese market, that really gave Brazil incentive to ramp up their production to meet Chinese demand, so we’re now not only forced to compete with Brazil in China but in every export market.”

President Trump recently told producers to plan to sell more commodities on the domestic market, and Houston says the best avenue for more domestic sales is through increased biomass-based  diesel production for biofuels. “Soybean oil is not ethanol, it’s biomass-based diesel but that’s a big driver under the Renewable Fuel Standard, so we’re also pushing for policies that would increase that oil usage and give us another stable market to sell into.”

Houston says increased soybean oil production still leaves more soybean meal to export since the U.S. is not increasing pork or poultry production.

Houston made her comments on a Washington International Trade Association Ag Trade Day webinar Wednesday, .