Trade

China has purchased more cargoes of US soybeans, extending a buying spree this week that marks its first acquisitions since the leaders of the two countries held a summit in late September. State-owned companies have booked at least 20 soybean shipments, equivalent to around 1.3 million tons.

Beef imports under the Trump administration’s temporary tariff-rate quota fell well short of the first monthly allocation, limiting the amount of additional supply reaching the U.S. market, according to University of Arkansas economist James Mitchell.

The U.S. and China extended the Busan Agreement, the trade truce between the two countries, to Jan. 10 while identifying more than 1,600 products, including agricultural commodities, for potential tariff reductions. But soybeans for food and crushing were excluded from the list, and negotiators did not announce new agricultural trade commitments or a timeline for implementing the potential tariff reductions.

The Trump administration is examining whether a diesel export ban is a feasible way to address record-high prices for the critical fuel, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday. Many of the calls for a diesel export ban are coming from lawmakers in states with agriculture-rich economies, like Iowa Republicans Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Ashley Hinson.

China is over halfway to meeting its pledge to buy 25 million tons of US soybeans this year, but progress on a separate commitment to spend at least $17 billion more on American crops has largely stalled. In the first seven months of 2026, China bought only $3.9 billion of U.S. agricultural products, excluding soybeans, according to the most recent Agriculture Department data, only slightly more than during the same period last year.

American farmers are bracing for the impact of new tariffs exchanged between the U.S. and Canada on both their supply costs and their sales. Additionally, farm state Republicans say they want deescalation in Trump’s trade war with Canada, wary of another blow to growers who have suffered financially this year.

President Donald Trump said Friday that tariff-free imported beef will be coming from Brazil and Argentina, among other places, as his administration works to alleviate stubbornly high prices.

In an unprecedented display of industry-wide unity, four of the nation’s largest livestock organizations have jointly petitioned President Donald J. Trump to immediately reverse his administration’s proposed 90-day beef import initiative.