US farmers feel pain as soybean exports to China flatline despite tariff truce
China's imports of American soybeans and pork plunged to zero in early May and have yet to recover despite the US-China tariff truce, suggesting the trade war may have done lasting damage to a key US export trade.
For years, China has been a vital market for US agricultural products, with American farmers exporting more than US$12.8 billion of soybeans alone to the country in 2024, according to US government figures.
But that trade was almost entirely severed after US President Donald Trump launched an unprecedented
trade war against Beijing in early April, which saw both sides hike tariffs on each other's goods by more than 100 percentage points in a series of tit-for-tat moves.
Chinese imports of American soybeans and pork – previously two of the US' most important export categories in trade with China – plunged dramatically from early April and flatlined completely in early May, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
US pork exports to China showed signs of recovery in the days following May 12 – when the two sides announced a temporary deal to de-escalate the trade war – with new orders bouncing back to close to pre-April levels, though shipments remained low as of May 15, the data showed.
However, US exports of soybeans to China remained at zero as of May 15, with no new purchase deals having been struck.
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