The trade war between the USA and China alarmed the American soybean producers. American producers, who exported 33 million tons of soybeans to China last year, said China’s decision to place 25 percent tax on imported soybean would devastate them. 

The American Soybean Association (ASA) called on President Donald Trump to solve the trade disagreement in “a constructive manner” instead of harming the soybean producers’ interest. Following China’s announcement of a proposed 25 percent tariff on imported U.S. soybeans, John Heisdorffer, the president of ASA, said that if the Trump administration takes a step, it still has time to counter this damage. In the statement, John Heisdorffer, the president of the association and also a farmer in Iowa, called on President Trump to take constructive manner against China and find a positive result for soybean farmers. The soybean producer said the administration should “find ways to reduce our trade deficit by increasing competitiveness rather than erecting barriers to foreign markets.” He added that a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on all soybean farmers in America. The US exported 32.85 million tons of soybeans to China in 2017. China purchases 61 percent of total US soybean exports and more than 30 percent of overall U.S. soybean production. The imports from the US constitute 34 percent of Chinese’s total soybean import. Thus, a healthy US-Chinese economic relation works for both countries’ interest. The best proof of this is that since both countries established diplomatic relation in 1979, the trade volume between countries increased 230 times, which means 580 billion US dollars in 2017.