The American Soybean Association (ASA) on Wednesday urged President Donald Trump to solve the U.S. trade disputes with China "in a constructive manner," instead of hurting the U.S. soy growers' interests.
Responding to China's newly announced countermeasures in the escalating trade tensions with the United States, which include proposed 25 percent tariff on American soybeans, the ASA president said there is still time to reverse this damage as China expressed that the heavy tariff would only go into effect based on the course of action the Trump administration takes.
"We call on President Trump to engage the Chinese in a constructive manner - not a punitive one - and achieve a positive result for soybean farmers," ASA President and Iowa farmer John Heisdorffer said in a statement.
He added that the Trump administration should "find ways to reduce our trade deficit by increasing competitiveness rather than erecting barriers to foreign markets."
A 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have "a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America," he said.
Soybean futures plunged more than 30 cents a bushel, or about 3 percent as of 1530 GMT Wednesday. At a projected 2018 crop of 4.3 billion bushels, U.S. soybean farmers lost more than 1.29 billion U.S. dollars in value for their crop on Wednesday morning alone.
