If you don’t think one crop can have a huge impact on the U.S. economy, check this out.  Soybean exports to China have dropped to zero due to the ongoing Trump trade war.  From CNN:

“A long-term shift by China away from importing US soybeans would have serious consequences for American farmers, who sold more than $12 billion worth of soybeans to the country last year, their largest export market.”

Over the summer, China retaliated to Trump tariffs by slapping billions of tariffs on American products–like soybeans.  China now says it’s trying to wean itself off soybean imports from the U.S. or make its famers grow more of the crop.  Either way it’s bad news for the U.S. economy.  Senator Heidi Heitkamp is in a tough re-election battle in North Dakota where a lot of soybeans were just harvested.

 

Some farmers are available for federal bailout money.  But the food chain involves more than farmers. From The Washington Post:

“In August 2017, $27 million worth of soybeans shipped to China through Washington state’s port of Vancouver. This August’s total shipment: $0.

“The drop, driven by President Trump’s escalating trade war with China, has meant real pain for the longshoremen responsible for transporting the cargo at the port. With fewer crops to load onto ships bound for China, the number of shifts available for longshoremen has fallen.

“…People are worried and people are scared — and they are scared because there’s no answers or plans to know that this will be over at a certain point,” said Smith, who drives the crane that loads soybeans and wheat onto the ships. “Trump knows who is voting for him, and he knows it’s not longshoremen — the farmers are voting for him so he has to pay them to keep their vote.”“People are worried and people are scared — and they are scared because there’s no answers or plans to know that this will be over at a certain point,” said Smith, who drives the crane that loads soybeans and wheat onto the ships. “Trump knows who is voting for him, and he knows it’s not longshoremen — the farmers are voting for him so he has to pay them to keep their vote.”