The trade war with China and soybeans

North Dakota farmers have become rich selling soybeans to China over the past twenty years. But, now they are hurting as China imposed a tariff on American soybeans in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods. The result - a decline of 94% in sales from last year.

China is by far the world’s largest importer of soybeans. The country consumed 110 million tons of soybeans in 2017, and 87 percent of those beans were imported — the vast majority from either Brazil or the United States.