US farmers caught in trade war with China
HARVARD, United States: Terry Davidson expects to be farming long after the US- China trade tariffs that took effect Friday become a distant memory.
The Illinois soybean grower is more optimistic than others that things will work out, but many farmers in the Midwestern farm belt are not so sure, following the opening salvos in a trade war.
All are caught in the middle, after Washington on Friday imposed 25-per cent duties on US$ 34 billion worth of Chinese machinery, electronics and high-tech gear.
Beijing had already said soybeans would be among US products it would retaliate against, and fought back dollar for dollar immediately after the US tariffs took effect in line with President Donald Trump’s repeated criticisms of China’s economic practices “We’ve survived since the 1800s and we’re still going,” said Davidson, 41, a fifth- generation farmer and a Democrat among mostly Republicans. “So, I think we’ll keep going.” In the meantime, he is unsure how the tariffs will affect the prices he can command for his crop when harvest time comes in a few months.
“Other countries are trying to stock up on US soybeans. They’re taking the place of what China has done to us,” Davidson told AFP, striking a note of cautious optimism at his farm outside Harvard, Illinois, a two-hour drive and a world away from Chicago.
But other farmers – and the interest groups that represent them – are sounding the alarm.
Soybean growers are especially concerned.
They sell most of their crops overseas, and China is their biggest and fastest-growing market. — AFP