US imports consoomer stuff that no one needs
China imports critical materials and food
This is really a no-brainer.
Right. Sure worked out for the USA last round. Lets fuck farmers, round 2.
https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2022/10/26/policies-and-politics-effects-on-us-china-soybean-trade/China is the United States’s largest agricultural export market and soybeans are a critical segment of US-China trade. Prior to the 2018 trade war, US soybean exports to China had grown much faster than the United States’s overall global exports, reaching $1 billion in 2000, and $14 billion in 2016 —representing 62 percent of all US soybean exports that year. After President Donald Trump took office in 2017, trade tensions accelerated. US soybean exports to China began to fall and, in 2018, as trade tensions escalated into a full-scale trade war, exports fell sharply to $3.1 billion (18 percent of US soy exports) from $12.3 billion (63 percent of US soy exports) in 2017.
China turned to Brazil, the largest soybean exporter to China, to replace America’s supply. Soybean planting areas in the United States dropped to 76.1 million acres in 2019, a 15.5 percent reduction from 2017 and 2018. With no imports in November 2018, China’s imports of US soybeans resumed partially after the temporary agreement between the two countries signed on December 1, 2018 at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At that meeting, China agreed to buy agricultural and energy products from US farmers. Despite these claims, the countries failed to finalize the negotiations within the designated time (90 days). As a result, on May 10, 2019, the United States increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.
The US tariffs aimed to protect American companies, but the outcomes were not positive as expected. US exports are estimated to have declined by $32 billion, costing industries some $2.4 billion per month in lost exports. As a result, companies had to pay lower profit margins, cut wages and jobs, and increase prices.
Regarding agricultural products, US exports dropped by $27-$30 billion between mid-2018 and the end of 2019. The main commodities affected were soybean, sorghum and pork. Farmers lost a very profitable market in China calculated at $24 billion. During the 115th and 116th Congressional Hearings in 2018 and 2019 respectively, American soybean farmers testified to rising debts, increased costs of production and declining farm incomes in the industry. In July 2019, a representative in the Committee on Small Business US Congressional Hearing discussed how the number of bankruptcies filed by farmers in 2018 was the highest in over a decade. These Congressional discussions on the economic downturns paved the way for the Family Farmer Relief Act, passed into law on August 23, 2019; the Family Farmer Relief Act gives family farmers greater protection in bankruptcy proceedings.
On January 15, 2020, the United States and China signed another agreement designed to improve the trade environment. Under the agreement, China committed to purchasing $200 billion worth of goods and services from the United States from 2020-2021. Specifically for agricultural and related products, China committed to an additional 12.5 billion purchases from the United States in 2020 over 2017 levels and an additional 19.5 billion in 2021 over 2017 levels. By December 2021, however, China had purchased products that represented 59 percent of the commitment excluding the extra $200 billion of US exports. China progressed more with agricultural purchases: China’s purchase represented 83 percent of the Phase One commitment.
Despite these commitments, China did not purchase American goods and services as agreed. The trade war also did not generate benefits for US industries. Policy interventions were, and are, still necessary to improve the trade environment between the two countries.
This post was edited by SBD on Apr 9 2025 09:26am