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Trade war only in ‘cease fire’

An ag economist says a return to U.S. – Chinese trade tensions could be coming.

Ohio State University trade and policy expert Ian Sheldon said the trade war with China isn’t over. He tells Brownfield major market disruptors like Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have only forced a ‘cease fire’.

“The 25-cent soybean tariff is still in place,” Sheldon said. “So, the trade war is on hold. But the current administration isn’t showing any signs of changing its position on those tariffs.”

And Sheldon said the current tariffs could be causing problems for the general U.S. economy.

“Economists have been worried about inflation here in the United States,” he said. “They’ve said, get rid of the import tariffs against China and that would bring down the rate of inflation by probably two percentage points.”

He said export market share could be lost to Brazil if a better trade relationship isn’t established.

Brownfield interviewed Sheldon at Farm Science Review outside Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday.