[Wen/Observer Network Zhang Jingjuan] After losing China as a big buyer, U.S. soybeans fell into an export dilemma. While the Trump administration is busy preparing for an agricultural rescue plan, it is also running around the world to find new buyers.
According to the South China Morning Post, an English-language media in Hong Kong, besides China, the main buyers of American soybeans include Mexico, the European Union, Japan and Indonesia. Now that China's orders are turning to Brazil and Argentina, the United States is urging African and Asian countries to increase their purchases, and Trump's team is even pushing into untested markets such as India.
“As part of our trade talks, we are calling on all soybean customers around the world,” said Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Committee, in an interview with CNBC on Friday, saying the Trump administration “is also ready to develop very strong policies to support farmers.”
On the same day, Divya Kumar Gulati, president of the Indian Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers Association (CLFMA), said that a CLFMA delegation recently visited farms in the United States and found that American farmers were "suffering serious losses". And the ongoing trade negotiations may open the door to imports of soybeans from the United States for animal feed.
Gulati said: "American farmers are losing money, losing a lot of money because China has stopped buying. So they are in a desperate situation right now and they need to sell it somewhere."
To boost soybean exports, the U.S. main soybean region has been actively “starting off”. Last month, the heavily dependent state of Iowa, led by Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, headed by a delegation including Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Mike Niger and the state’s agriculture and business leaders, travelled to India for an eight-day visit to deepen the partnership and help increase U.S. soybeans sales.
The report pointed out that Trump's trade team hopes that India will fully open its agricultural market to American products. However, this request is undoubtedly a "political problem" for Indian Prime Minister Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Indian farmers are a key electorate group, and hasty concessions are likely to trigger a backlash in domestic public opinion, and political sensitivity is significant.
American Farm Soybean IC photo
While fighting for India, the U.S. has also “Guarza Network” in other regions. Recently, South Asian countries, Bangladesh, havely increased imports of soybeans to the U.S. in order to please Trump. Since early 2025, India’s neighbor has imported more than 400,000 tons of soybeans from the U.S.; in June this year, Vietnam and the U.S. Soybean Export Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to buy more than $1.4 billion in U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans, corn and wheat; and in August, a delegation of the U.S. Soybeans Association visited Nigeria to push for the use of soybeans in fish feed.
On October 7, Canadian Prime Minister Carney will visit the White House to meet with Trump.The report said that although he has always been a stable buyer of U.S. soybeans, the procurement volume is relatively limited, and the outside world generally expects Trump will use the meeting to pressure to push Canada to increase soybeans purchases.
White House press secretary Levitt also said trade would be the top of the agenda when the two leaders meet.
However, these new market expansion actions have made it difficult to fill the gap in the Chinese market. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that China has accounted for more than 40% of U.S. soybean exports over the past five years. Last week, Trump said he would discuss the issue with China later this month and pledged to help U.S. farmers with funds raised by tariffs on all major trading partners including China. The Trump administration is also considering a multi-billion dollar bailout plan to support farmers in trouble.
The Wall Street Journal quoted informed sources as saying that Trump and his team are considering tariff revenues as a major source of aid funding and that aid funding may begin in the coming months, according to a senior government official, who said the discussions were mainly around the scale of aid of $10 billion to $14 billion, which is estimated to be used to help soybean growers and other groups in the agricultural economy.
The official said that negotiations are still ongoing and no final conclusions have been reached. he also stressed that Trump's consideration of the farmers' aid program could change if China and the United States reached a soybean procurement agreement.
But for the U.S. soybean industry, government assistance is ultimately a "temporary solution rather than a root cause." Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, told CNN,"Government payments and plans can never leave farmers 'bottom lines intact. It is often just a band-aid on a wound."
In a statement earlier last month, Lagrange called on the Trump administration to “prioritize ensuring an immediate soybean deal with China.”
"American farmers can no longer wait and hope. Our competitors are replacing the United States in the world's largest soybean import market, and the agricultural economy is suffering." said Raglan.