Maintaining 26 years of practice, saying to break is to break, China's attitude is very determined, Trump this time indeed turned, let the efforts of the United States once again before liberation!
Argentina just announced the temporary abolition of the pre-deposit tax on soybean exports, and Chinese buyers agreed to purchase 20 ships and about 1.3 million tons of soybeans in two days.
In sharp contrast, China's purchase of American soybeans dropped directly to zero, and the 26-year-old normal purchasing practice was thus broken.
U.S. lawmakers directly broke the defense and accused Argentina of backstabbing the United States, but is this really the case?
In the end, this is both a direct counterfeit of Trump's tariff policy, and the landslide of China's food security layout, as well as the collapse of the competitiveness of the U.S. soybean industry.
Look at the most direct tariff account first.
When the U.S. imposed tariffs on agricultural products in China in 2018, many Western media were saying that “U.S. soybean quality is hard, China must buy back sooner or later.”
But the reality gave the answer, China directly imposed a 25% counter-tariff on U.S. soybeans, and immediately dropped the price of soybeans.
In September 2025, the data of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is also clear.
U.S. soya in the Gulf of Mexico is priced at $1026 / ton, while Argentina is only $580 / ton, the price difference is fast to double.
Business procurement is not charitable, of course, the price is high.
More importantly, tariffs have shattered the stability of trade.
Trump wants to fill the hole with subsidies, and plans to push $40 billion in agricultural subsidies, but can this money really save the emergency?
500,000 U.S. bean farmers now lose $ 100 per acre, subsidies 60% have flowed to large farms in the south, small and medium-sized farmers in the north have the fuel money to collect crops uneven, subsidies look fun, but not at all to the knife.
Probably to see China’s attitude is very determined, and Trump is also a little panicked.
On August 11, he posted on social platforms, urging China to quadruple its soybean purchases from the United States, and promised "fast service"。
The post just came out, and the price of soybeans on the Chicago futures exchange rose by 2.8%, but fell back in a few days, because the market doesn’t believe it at all.
Waiting for 11 days without a response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture that China didn’t even fall, and the Trump administration started sanctions again.
On August 21, the U.S. announced sanctions on two Chinese shipping companies, saying they were “supporting Iran’s oil activities,” and it was evident that it was putting pressure on them.
But similarly, sanctions didn't work. Instead, they made China more determined to diversify its supply chain.
On September 22, Argentina lifted the 26% soya export deductible tax, the next day China took 10 vessels, 650,000 tons of soybeans, followed by 10 vessels, a total of 1.3 million tons all set to ship in November.
In a letter to Trump on August 19, the chairman of the American Soybean Association warned that soybean prices would fall below $10 per ounce, lower than the cost line, and steady down the farm bankruptcy tide.
Now that all the orders are flowing to South America, American soybean farmers can only watch helplessly, not to mention how humbled they are.
And behind this is the collapse of the American soybean industry chain.
Minnesota’s soybeans, ripe without harvest, can only be stacked in the ground; North Dakota is worse, with more than 300,000 tons of soybeans to be directly destroyed.
This scenario is everywhere in the main production area, with orders gone, with planting area dropping by 8 percent, with only 78 million acres left in 2025; soybean transportation on the Midwest Railway dropped by 23 percent in September, and the use of warehouses in the port of Chicago soared to 92 percent, and the stockpiling was rapid.
Planting, processing, transportation related jobs less than 2.3 million, Illinois, Iowa most obvious, small processing plants because of the lack of raw materials closure a large portion, which is a short-term fluctuation, clearly to return to the low 20 years ago.
Some say that China is “deliberately counter” but, in the depths, it is more like a proactive layout for food security.
In May this year, we signed a $900 million agreement with Argentina on agricultural products, and in June we resumed the years-broken purchase of Argentine soybeans, this time with 1.3 million tons of soybeans, but a natural continuation of our cooperation.
Why did we choose Argentina?
First, they cancelled a 15% cost reduction after the advance tax deduction, which can save a lot of money;
The second is to reduce production by 12% by the drought in Brazil by 2025 and find more channels to avoid it.
Third, China's blockchain traceability system in South America covers 80% of export channels, transport time is short of 40%, not afraid of cuts.
In fact, there is no rest in our country, this year's domestic soybean single production was about 18%, 2.8 tons per hectare, and the proportion of protein substitutes in feed was also 8%.
Foreign channels, domestic production capacity, both hands are held to keep food security in their own hands.
The data in the first seven months of this year is even more illustrative: China imported 42.26 million tons of soybeans from Brazil, while the United States imported only 16.57 million tons, and its share was already robbed by South America.
Trump initially imposed tariffs, probably thinking that he could catch up with China, and didn’t think of ruining his agriculture basically.
Argentina has earned foreign currency with the abolition of tariffs, China has stabilized the supply chain, and only the U.S. soybean industry has suffered.
26 years of procurement practices broken, not China intentionally not to buy, is the US soybeans really lack competitiveness.
This also means that the so-called "food brand" in the United States is failing.
In the past, they always said that China could not live without American agricultural products. Now, it seems that as long as there is fair price and stable supply, China has plenty of choices.
It's useless for Trump to force China to place orders by shouting and sanctions. Trade is never about who has the final say with a loud voice, but about who can show sincerity and cost performance.
Argentina laughed, China laughed, only Trump could laugh.
This is no longer a simple order transfer, but a signal of the reshuffle of the global industrial chain. Engaging in trade protectionism will only destroy one's own rice bowl in the end.
American agriculture wants to slow down, I am afraid to first understand: is it China needs American soybeans, or is it the American soybeans need the Chinese market?