American farm exports are expected to plunge $1.9 billion in fiscal 2019, compared to the previous year, largely due to President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Soybean exports have been hit particularly hard, the agency’s chief economist, Robert Johansson, told the USDA Outlook Forum in Washington on Thursday, Reuters reported. Because of the trade dispute, soybean exports to China will have “plummeted by 22 million [metric] tons, or over 90 percent” through this month, Johansson said.
China has dropped to the fifth largest market for American farm exports, Johansson noted. It was the top foreign purchaser in 2017. China is buying only about 6 percent of total U.S. exports, compared with nearly 18 percent in 2014.
The USDA estimates a net farm income of $66 billion for 2018, compared with $134 billion in 2013.
Early last year Trump admitted farmers would take a hit in the trade war, but he insisted that they would “understand.” These are “great patriots,” he added, referring to the farmers. “They understand that they’re doing this for the country.” The Farm Bureau, which represents the nation’s farmers, has spoken out against tariffs and the trade war. The administration has set aside $12 billion to bail out farmers hurt by the president’s trade war.
