Wisconsin soybean farmers the latest struggling to deal with escalating tariff dispute

Shortly after China announced the latest round of retaliatory tariffs against U.S. goods and commodities Wednesday, president Donald Trump took to Twitter.

The president tweeted, “When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!”

Robert Karls, executive director of the Wisconsin Soybean Association would beg to differ.

“This is very concerning,” he said. “It’s devastating to the soybean industry of Wisconsin and the United States.”

After news of the soybean tariffs, futures for the crop quickly dropped by 5%.

While the rounds of retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of goods and commodities between China and U.S. may never go into place, it doesn’t lessen the concern of those whose industries are impacted by the tariffs — like Wisconsin soybean farmers. Their crop faces 25 percent tariffs from China after its announcement Wednesday.

“For getting caught in the middle of a war — a tariff war — and it’s concerning,” Karls said. “Wisconsin and throughout the nation, this has far reaching effects.

“The word devastating is being used when we’re talking about this, especially coming into a situation where the farm economy is already challenged.”

China currently buys $14 billion worth of soybeans from American farmers — about a third of the entire U.S crop. The latest round of 106 tariffs came just a day after the Trump administration announced $50 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods.

Karls is hoping cooler, and more open-market minds, will prevail in the ever-escalating trade dispute between the two countries.

“We’re working from a grassroots level in communicating with Washington and getting the message out there how devastating it would be to the soybean industry,” Karls said.