American soybean farmers face financial crisis as China trade dispute threatens livelihoods

The ongoing trade dispute with China has created serious headwinds for American farmers, with soybean producers having lost access to the world's largest market for the commodity.

China halted purchases of American soybeans this spring in retaliation for the Trump administration's tariffs, as a means of looking to gain leverage in trade talks by shifting its purchases away from U.S. producers to countries such as Brazil and Argentina. China is the world's leading importer of soybeans, bringing in 61% of the world's traded soybean supplies over the last five marketing years, according to data from the American Soybean Association (ASA).

The group said the U.S. has historically served as a primary supplier for China, as American soybean farmers exported an average of 28% of their