Minnesota farmer Dan Glessing isn’t ready to be too upset about President Donald Trump’s trade wars.
Farm country voted heavily for Trump this past November. Now Glessing and many other farmers are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Republican president’s disputes with China and other international markets.
China normally would buy about one row out of every four of the Minnesota soybean crop – and took in almost $13 billion worth of soybeans from the United States as a whole in 2024. More than half of U.S. soybeans are exported internationally, with about half of those going to China – so it’s a critical market.
Trump in April increased U.S. tariffs on products from China to 145%, and China retaliated with 125%. But a later announcement of a 90-day truce between the two countries backed up the reluctance of many farmers to hit the panic button.