Soybeans represent the largest U.S. export to China, with a value of $12.4 billion last year, reports USA Today.
American soybeans, however, help feed the growing middle class in China, where soy-fed pork has become a mainstay of the diet. That need will become more acute this fall when soybeans from Brazil – the world’s other major producer – grow scarce, analysts say.
Chinese buyers will have little choice but to turn again to the U.S. crop, which is also used for cooking oil in China, experts say. And if the 25% tariff is still in place, it could further stoke Chinese inflation that hit a four-month high in July.
