According to North Dakota State University Extension Crops Economist and Marketing Specialist Frayne Olson, the market responded very quickly to China’s threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on soybean, corn and other commodities. “The list is a little bit fuzzy, but it does target a lot of agricultural products headquartered or centered within the center of the country, the political base for President Trump. This is as much a political move as it is economics.”
Olson says nobody wins in this type of trade spat. “When people start talking about trade and trade wars, at the end of the day, it’s the whole system that pays. Some industries like the farmers who grow soybeans would probably get hit more heavily than some of the consumers in China, but everyone starts paying higher prices for it.”