How Soy Fits Into the US–China Trade War

10/20/2025|Updated: 10/20/2025

Commentary

China is punishing U.S. soybean farmers to try and retaliate against U.S. tariffs. Soy is the biggest U.S. agricultural export, including $12.6 billion in exports to China in 2024. But since May, China has imported zero soybeans from the United States.

Anders Corr has a bachelor’s/master’s in political science from Yale University (2001) and a doctorate in government from Harvard University (2008). He is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc. and publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, and has conducted extensive research in North America, Europe, and Asia. His latest books are “The Concentration of Power: Institutionalization, Hierarchy, and Hegemony” (2021) and “Great Powers, Grand Strategies: the New Game in the South China Sea” (2018).