News

Soy leader says it’s not too late to step back from the US-China trade war

The vice president of the American Soybean Association says the group is not giving up hope that the US and China could come to an agreement before tariffs are set to go into place on July 6.

Davie Stephens grows corn and soybeans in western Kentucky.

“We’re really trying to drive the message home now of rethinking the tariffs and not moving forward with that deadline,” he says.

He tells Brownfield the ASA will continue to push negotiation over the aid that could be offered by the USDA through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

“That’s one of our key things that we want to keep in the forefront of the administration: let’s keep the negotiations open and work something out and not have to get into the whole dynamics of litigation,” he says.

Stephens says that soybean farmers can’t afford to lose the Chinese market.

“We send China about $14 billion annually in soy exports and that tariff is going to be huge going forward,” he says.

Trump has threatened to impose additional trade tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, after China retaliated against Trump’s $50 billion in tariffs announced Friday.

Audio: Davie Stephens, American Soybean Association