President Trump sharply raised tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico, which caused stock market prices for corn and soybeans to collapse

US President Donald Trump has increased tariffs on Chinese goods from 10% to 20%, citing “the Chinese government’s failure to take action to reduce the steady flow of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl.” He also announced a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods effective March 4 and tariffs on all imported agricultural products effective April 2. “Big farmers need to produce more agricultural products to sell inside the US. Tariffs on foreign products will take effect April 2. Have fun!” Trump said. Markets reacted with a 1.5-2.6% drop in US stock indices and a decline in corn and soybean prices, which will be the first to be hit by the introduction of mirror tariffs by importers. On the Chicago Board of Trade, March corn futures fell 3.1% yesterday to $173.3/t (-12.5% for the month), and soybeans fell 1.4% to $366.8/t (-7.7%). In 2024, the US exported 30 million tons of corn worth $5.62 billion to Mexico, $449 million to Canada, $385 million to the EU, and $328 million ...