US soybean farmers fear being further sidelined after Argentina bailout dealpublished at 7:28 p.m. BST
Danielle Kaye
New York economic journalist
Image source, ReutersThe Trump administration’s $20 billion financial bailout for Argentina, which Trump and Milei discussed during their meeting, has raised alarms in the U.S. agricultural sector, particularly among a group that has seen export markets dry up: soybean farmers.
China, the world’s largest buyer of pulses, has reduced its reliance on U.S. soybeans since the trade wars of Trump’s first term. It stopped buying from the United States completely in May, as retaliatory measures on American agricultural exports prompted Chinese buyers to turn to South America – Brazil in the lead -.
Today, China is also turning to Argentina for its soybeans, after the country dropped its export taxes on the product.
American farmers denounce the risk of being further marginalized as the Trump administration supports a country that sells more and more soybeans to China.
“Even that replaces U.S. soybeans,” said Mark Legan, a cattle, corn and soybean producer in Putnam County, Indiana.
Farmers are about to get a separate bailout from the federal government, mirroring similar aid during Trump’s first term. But Legan said the emergency aid, while welcome, would not solve the underlying problem of falling crop prices amid China’s turnaround.
Chris Barrett, an economics professor at Cornell University, called Argentina’s bailout “peculiar.”
“Our first bailout package is aimed at Argentina and Wall Street investors in Argentina,” Barrett said. “Among the many people whose businesses and jobs have been disrupted over the past six months, this seems like a really strange place to start the queue.”
