It is impossible to imagine a US administration that makes so many blunders. It would be polite to say that they are rookie mistakes. However, after a decade of ruling over the Republican Party, they can no longer use that excuse.
To summarize one of the biggest economic blunders in American history, please listen to this audio clip.
The latest fiasco demonstrates how China and Argentina outsmarted the most intelligent and best deal-maker in the world. Before Trump started the trade war with China, US farmers sent 60% of their foreign soybean crop to China. Today, because of Trump’s haphazard tariff program, there is effectively no soybean trade with China. We typically think of the speed metric in terms of a car going from zero to sixty. How about a trade metric going from sixty to zero?
I asked my friend, Perplexity, about the future of American soybean farmers and this is the response:
Without trade with China, American soybean farmers are facing severe financial stress, massive surpluses, and the potential for long-term structural change in U.S. agriculture. China was previously the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, so the abrupt halt to purchases leaves farmers without a comparable alternative market, forcing a combination of short-term and long-term adaptations.
To add injury to insult, Trump provided over $20 billion to help prop up the ultra-right-wing libertarian and populist President of Argentina, Javier Milei. Argentina is the country that has stolen most of the soybean business from American farmers.
American farmers, like tRUMP may not like the current situation but will stand there with their hand out. They have no choice. As a matter of fact, if small farmers don’t accept the handouts to stay in business, they will go bankrupt and the big corps that buy their farms from the bank will take the handouts. tRUMP has screwed the hell out of all of us, taxpayers, farmers, importers, everyone but his multimillionaire/billionaire buddies who get their taxes lowered. But this benefit is only temporary for them as we shrink the middle class, their businesses will suffer and it will cost them more than they would have paid in “excess” taxes.