Soybean group in US calls for trade sense

A lobbying group for the US soybean industry on Wednesday urged the White House to engage Beijing in a more pragmatic manner to avoid economic harm to farmers, while analysts warned of the economic and political implications of the country's escalating trade standoff with China.

Soybeans, the largest US agricultural export to China, is one of 106 US products on which Beijing considered imposing an additional 25 percent tariff.

The move was announced early Wednesday following the Trump administration's proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products.

"A 25 percent tariff on US soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America," said American Soybean Association President John Heisdorffer. "Soybean farmers lost $1.72 billion in value for our crop this morning alone. That's real money lost for farmers, and it is entirely preventable," he said.

Heisdorffer, whose association is a lobbying group representing 21,000 US soybean producers, said there is still time to reverse the damage, as China has said that its extra tariff is contingent on the course of action the US administration takes.

"We call on President Trump to engage the Chinese in a constructive manner — not a punitive one —and achieve a positive result for soybean farmers," Heisdorffer said in a statement.

The long-term impacts of a tariff would be to make US soybeans less competitive with South American soybeans, said Gary Schnitkey, a professor and farm management specialist at the University of Illinois.

Over time, there would be a shift in acreage away from soybeans in the US and a move to soybeans in South America, he told China Daily in an email.