A hill of beans

SOYBEANS UPSTAGE U.S. TRADE TALKS

Soybeans account for less than one per cent of all the goods and services the United States sells the rest of the world.

But somehow the humble legumes are upstaging weightier, thornier issues as the Trump administration tackles trade disputes with China, the European Union and other trading partners. Critics worry that focusing on getting foreigners to buy soybeans and other U.S. goods is a distraction from pushing them to make deeper economic reforms that would offer longerlasting benefits to the United States.

The outsize importance of soybeans — mostly used as animal feed but also consumed by humans in everything from General Tso’s Tofu to soy lattes — was apparent again recently in two days of U.S.-China trade talks.

The world’s two biggest economies didn’t make much progress on their differences over the aggressive tactics — including cybertheft — that Beijing is allegedly using to challenge U.S. supremacy in cutting-edge industries like driverless cars and artificial intelligence.

But to the president’s delight, they did agree on one thing: In an unexpected deal that even surprised the top U.S. trade negotiator, China said that it would buy five million metric tons of American soybeans over an unspecified period.

“China as a sign of goodwill has agreed to purchase a tremendous, massive amount of soybeans,” Trump told reporters.

He said he had consulted with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and learned that “our farmers are extremely happy.”

“It’s a nice kind of olive branch,” said Peter Meyer, head of grain and oilseed analytics at S&P Global Platts.

Soybeans, which accounted for just $21.5 billion of $2.4 trillion in U.S. exports in 2017, seem to be punching above their weight in U.S. trade policy.

Farming is one of the few areas in which the United States sells more to the rest of the world than it buys, China included. Powerful lobbies represent American agricultural interests in Washington. And farmers tend to be enthusiastic Trump supporters.

The emphasis on soybeans has drawbacks, critics say. In the confrontation with China, for example, it diverts attention from the tough tech issues that divide the world’s two biggest economies and may decide whether Beijing or Washington presides over the economy of the future. And it implies that the Chinese might be able to avoid substantive concessions on their economic policies simply by agreeing to buy more American stuff and putting a dent in the massive U.S. trade deficit with China. That amounted to $336 billion in 2017 and was likely higher last year.