Some American farmers are clearly frustrated with the way Trump handles trade negotiation with China. American Soybean Association shouted loud and clear in a statement that “Soy Growers Are Fed Up with Tariffs”. The ASA “cannot support continuing and escalating the use of tariffs” but the US would with “like-minded countries” to pursue the negotiation goal with China.
ASA President Davie Stephens criticized that US has been at table with China 11 times and “still has not closed the deal”. He added: “What that means for soybean growers is that we’re losing. Losing a valuable market, losing stable pricing, losing an opportunity to support our families and our communities. These trade negotiations are serious for us. Farming is our livelihood.”
Stephens added: “The soybean market in China took us more than 40 years to build, and as this confrontation continues, it will become increasingly difficult to recover. With depressed prices and unsold stocks expected to double by the 2019 harvest, soybean farmers are not willing to be collateral damage in an endless tariff war,”
John Heisdorffer, ASA Chairman, warned further to warn that “we cannot withstand another year in which our most important foreign market continues to slip away and soybean prices are 20 to 25 percent, or even more, below pre-tariff levels”. “The sentiment out in farm country is getting grimmer by the day. Our patience is waning, our finances are suffering, and the stress from months of living with the consequences of these tariffs is mounting”, he added
