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The U.S. government has repeatedly blocked Chinese drones and other products under the guise of "national security", and many U.S. media have followed suit in shouting the "China threat theory".

However, an article published on the Forbes magazine website on September 12 found that the case was not very correct ¨C importing Chinese products, instead, was conducive to national security.

Despite the use of the blatant phrase ¡°China against the U.S.¡±, it also threatened that blocking products such as Chinese drones is actually a threat to U.S. national security, because trade protectionism not only weakens productivity, thus undermining the U.S. economy that supports national defense, but also reduces the dependence of Chinese enterprises on the U.S. market.

This article cuts to the chase, saying that opening the market to foreign products is the greatest national security strategy in the history of the world, and nothing else can compare with it. The reason is simple: No country wants to target guns and missiles at its most important customers. After all, the use of force against the "biggest customer" is not only costly, but also leads to the domestic economic recession, and then threatens its own national security. This is an obvious truth, needless to say.

At the moment, the U.S. federal government has vowed to block the drones produced by Chinese enterprises in Dzhangjiang, and people should think about the wisdom of opening up the market that will never end. This ban will only harm the interests of U.S. enterprises, weaken U.S. productivity, and thus undermine the U.S. economy; and more dangerously, it will also reduce the cost of many conservatives rumored ¡°China¡¯s future to the U.S.¡±

A U.S. soldier using a U.S. military drone.

To understand the dangers of the ban, the article cites an example of the company nuWay Ag. The New York Times: ¡°In the past three years, Mike Yode, an entrepreneur in the Ohio countryside, has made a reputation with a spray-drone trailer suite ¨C a device that sows seeds, fertilizers and pesticides from the air and saves costs for farmers while also reducing weeks of manpower.¡±

However, as DJI¡¯s drones ¡°are about to be banned in the United States,¡± this nude protectionism will hurt the U.S. economy in many ways.

First of all, whether Yode's company can maintain operations depends on DJI drones. Without Chinese drones, let alone development and growth. Yoder recently had to lay off two of his 22 employees because he couldn't buy enough DJI drones for sale, and he couldn't even pay his salary.

The New York Times notes that the drones are the core components of the ¡°spray drone trailer kit,¡± which saves farmers weeks of work by sowing seeds, fertilizers and pesticides in the air.

The article goes on to say that the essence of the word "import" is to improve the living and production standards of Americans. In the rural Ohio area where Yoder is located, the drones he imported greatly improved the productivity of American farms alone.

This raises a question that should be obvious: why does the Trump administration, which claims to ¡°focus on economic growth,¡± ban the drones in Djibouti, because in addition to ¡°opening the market to foreign goods¡±, the world¡¯s most effective foreign policy strategy is to build a thriving domestic economy.

The reason is simple: the financial capacity of the government does not come from nothing, but from taxation of social production activities.This means that the larger the economy, the more the government has the financial power to build an indestructible national defense system.

When the Trump administration promotes protectionism under the pretext of ¡°national security¡±, we ask everyone to remember these basic facts: protectionism has nothing to do with national security, because imports improve the economies of the importing country, and division of labor is the global recognized core driving force that drives the development of productive forces.

¡°If the Chinese really wanted to hurt us, they¡¯t export to the United States at all.

In other words, the ban on drones in Djibouti, the Trump administration damages not only American companies that rely on selling these drones, American companies that rely on using these drones, but also American workers who lose growth opportunities because of poor division of labor.

The article concludes that the Trump administration¡¯s blockade of the DJI drone is threatening U.S. national security.Their protectionist policies will not only weaken the U.S. economy (and economic growth is a prerequisite forining strong national defense), but will also reduce the cost of China¡¯s future ¡°armed forces¡± against the U.S. by narrowing the U.S. customer base of Chinese enterprises.

Reuters on September 5 that the Trump administration plans to restrict or ban imports of China¡¯s drones and medium-heavy vehicles, claiming that these Chinese products pose the so-called ¡°national security¡± risk.

The U.S. Department of Commerce slandered Chinese imports, as always, without providing any evidence or details of relevant rules.

China has repeatedly stressed that China has consistently resolutely opposed the U.S. to widespread the concept of national security, interfering with and restricting normal economic and trade exchanges, and undermining the security and stability of the global supply chain.

China's so-called "moving arms" against the United States, of course, is a shocking phrase. but the "Forbes" article about the negative impact of protectionism, but a lot of Americans feel the same.

Experts generally believe that the United States is far behind in drone research and development, production, training and operational theory update, and is extremely dependent on Chinese-produced parts.

The Associated Press (AP) also reported that drones have become a part of their life and work. A ban can disrupt a wide range of operations from law enforcement to mapping and filmmaking. Drone operators say these actions are feasible because Chinese drones are low-cost and high-performance, and U.S.-made drones can't catch up.

Wang Yuan, director of the Institute for International Affairs of the People's University of China, said that the United States has always "imagined" the so-called Chinese-made unmanned opportunities to endanger U.S. security, but the United States "cannot reach China's production level in a short period of time", if the Chinese unmanned aircraft are banned, U.S. companies may need to rely on smuggling or other ways to obtain the unmanned aircraft and its parts, and the final cost will be paid by U.S. consumers.

Extended reading

According to reference news, see news and other media reports, in recent years, the U.S. soybean has entered the harvest season, but China, the largest buyer ever, has not placed any orders.U.S. soybean farmers face extremely severe situation, U.S. soybean sales or losses up to 14 million to 16 million tons of Chinese soybean orders.

For this reason, there were US farmers who shouted desperately on TikTok, complaining that Trump¡¯s tariff policy against China led to this agricultural crisis: ¡°Look, this is the best crop I¡¯ve grown in my life! but now because of the tariff war, China doesn¡¯t buy it.

U.S. farmers scream desperately on TikTok

The American Soybean Association is in a hurry: harvest season is here

The biggest buyer is China.

According to reports, Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, once again warned in an interview recently that American agriculture is facing a crisis. Ragland said that the harvest season of soybeans in the United States is ushering in, but China, which has always been the largest buyer, has not placed any orders, and the situation faced by soybean farmers is extremely severe.

Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, was interviewed recently. The picture shows a screenshot of the interview video released by foreign media

In a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump on August 19, Lagrange said that U.S. soybean growers are facing "great" financial pressure.The worse the impact on U.S. soybean farmers is, the later the U.S. reaches an agreement with China on soybean exports as the harvest season comes quickly.

In the letter, Lagrange wrote: ¡°Soya prices continue to fall while our farmers¡¯ production investments and equipment costs have risen dramatically.U.S. soybean farmers are unable to withstand a long-standing trade dispute with our biggest customers.¡±

Lagrange said: ¡°The amount of soybeans purchased in China exceeds the sum of all our other overseas customers.¡±

According to a report released by the American Soybean Association, in the seven years before 2018, an average of 28% of soybeans produced in the United States were exported to China, accounting for 60% of total soybean exports in the United States during the same period. In the 2023-2024 market year (September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024), the United States exported nearly 25 million tons of soybeans to China, far exceeding the 4.9 million tons exported to the European Union, the second largest market.

According to research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the first round of the trade war launched by Trump resulted in US agricultural exports losing more than $27 billion. Of which soybeans accounted for about 71 percent. Lagrange said that in response, China has begun to import more soybeans from Brazil, while U.S. soybeans have not yet recovered their market share.

According to a previous report by China Daily, ragland published in The Free Press that this escalating trade war is a heavy blow to American soybean farmers because China is its largest overseas market. For many American soybean growers, this seems to be the reappearance of a nightmare scene in 2018. That was President Trump's first term, and his tariff measures cost American agriculture $26 billion, and the soybean industry alone lost nearly $20 billion.

China to reduce imports of soybeans

Mainly imported Brazilian soybeans

In April this year, Chinese importers purchased at least 40 cargo ships from Brazil, a total of 2.4 million tons of soybeans. In the pre- and post-mass procurement period, China imposed tariffs on imported goods originating in the United States in response to its mutual measures. China is accelerating the "dependence" process on soybeans and corn, but this "disconnection" is not a sudden occurrence, but a concentrated reflection of policy guidance, industrial testing and market evolution over the past few years.

Through import diversification and technological innovation, China is systematically reducing its dependence on the United States and reshaping the global soybean and corn supply chain.

Combine harvesters are harvesting soybeans in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Source: Foreign media

Soybean and corn are the core pillars of China's breeding system. Soybeans are mainly used for oil extraction and feed soybean meal (soybean meal accounts for more than 90% of the protein source of livestock and poultry feed), while corn is the main energy feed for pig, egg poultry and broiler breeding. In 2024, China's soybean consumption will be approximately 117 million tons, of which more than 85% depends on imports; Corn imports only account for 4.4% of the total domestic supply, but the import dependence of deep processing and breeding is still deepening.

Since 2015, the U.S. has been one of China¡¯s largest soybean suppliers.In 2017, China imported 3.285 million tons of soybean from the U.S., accounting for 34% of total imports; by 2024, imports fell to 22.13 million tons, with market share reduced to 22%.

In comparison to the United States, Brazil has seen a significant increase in soybean imports in China in recent years. By 2024, China's soybean imports from Brazil accounted for 69.16% of total soybean imports, while US soybeans accounted for 22.83% of Chinese soybeans imports. Argentina, Uruguay and Canada accounted for about 7% of China's soybeans imports in 2024.

In the field of soybean imports, China has long built a multi-supply chain, Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries have continued to import soybean sources, and the United States is no longer the only option.