China has stopped importing American soybeans for the first time since the 1990s

for U.S. soybeans this marketing year, an unprecedented move, according to official data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last year, the United States accounted for a fifth of China’s soybean imports, worth more than $12 billion. “China’s approach to soybeans is similar to its approach to rare earths in that it reflects years of careful planning since the last trade war,” said Evan Pei, an agricultural analyst at Trivium China, a consulting firm. She added that “buyers are reacting not only to the high tariffs that remain on U.S. soybeans, but also to the extremely high degree of uncertainty about the short-term prospects for those tariffs.” This strategy is affecting U.S. producers. Farmers who have harvested large crops are facing falling prices. They are calling on the Donald Trump administration to remove tariffs that are more than 20% on U.S. soybeans in China. Chinese importers, on the other hand, are not feeling the strain, as they have secured soybeans from Brazil ...