China recently stopped buying American soybeans in response to Trump's tariffs on Chinese products and that's a major blow to American agriculture because literally half of all soybeans grown in America are (or were) exported to China.
According to Bloomberg, a significant portion of those American shipments have now been replaced by a record number of Russian shipments.
Russia sold about 850,000 metric tons of soybeans to China from the start of the 12-month season in July through mid-May, according to Russia’s agriculture agency Rosselkhoznadzor. That’s more than during any season before and compares with about 340,000 tons sold during all of the previous period, Chinese customs data show.
China has already canceled several shipments from the U.S. in anticipation of tariffs on the country’s products. While Brazil is expected to take much of that market share, Russia is also benefiting.
Trump went on a rant yesterday morning in which he said he doubts his conflict with China will be resolved.
“The reason I doubt it is because China has become very spoiled,” Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting later Thursday with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is leading the delegation in Washington for talks aimed at averting a trade war.
“The European Union has become very spoiled, other countries have become very spoiled because they’ve always gotten 100 percent of whatever they wanted from the United States,” Trump said.
Trump can say whatever he wants about "spoiled" countries, but reality is going to hit home soon and the reality is we're the spoiled country.
Although China has already begun to retaliate, a majority of Trump's tariffs haven't actually been implemented yet. When they are, China's actions will escalate and average Americans, not just farmers, are going to pay for it.
If Trump's temper tantrum isn't resolved before the tariffs are fully implemented, the outcome will no longer be hypothetical.