Following the tariff dispute with China, the US soybean industry took a hit when the country’s largest purchaser stepped away.

Sources say for the first time since 2018, China didn’t buy US soybeans this past September, due to the tariffs that the Trump Administration placed on China. Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Zach Nunn says half of Iowa’s soybeans are exported overseas, with a bulk going to places like China. He describes what an underlying issue has been with China when it comes to soybeans.

“Now China has leveraged the soybean market for sometime and is candidly, using trade warfare as a way to punish the United States, and it’s doing it, first and foremost, to our farmers.”  

Nunn explains two areas where soybeans can be diversified to stabilize and even increase soybean production. 

“And that’s prioritizing rule-making for 45Z. It’s clean fuel, it’s a production credit (that) provides certainty not only for our producers and biofuel industry, but for farmers across the board. I also spoke to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and our Secretary of Treasury on a nationwide, year round E-15 plan. That change would expand markets for producers, lower the cost of fuel for our consumers, as well as strengthen our rural economies.”      

Nunn adds that other ways to help the soybean industry is to make China be accountable and open trade with other countries.