China has stopped importing American soybeans for the first time since the 1990s

China, the world’s largest soybean importer, has not purchased a single shipment of U.S. soybeans since the start of the export season for the first time since the 1990s, a sign that Beijing is once again using agricultural products as leverage in its trade dispute with Washington, Bloomberg reported.

China has not placed any orders for U.S. soybeans this marketing year, an unprecedented move, according to official data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last year, the United States accounted for a fifth of China’s soybean imports, worth more than $12 billion.

“China’s approach to soybeans is similar to its approach to rare earths in that it reflects years of careful planning since the last trade war,” said Evan Pei, an agricultural analyst at Trivium China, a consulting firm. She added that “buyers are reacting not only to the high tariffs that remain on U.S. soybeans, but also to the extremely high degree of uncertainty about the short-term prospects for those tariffs.”

This strategy is affecting U.S. producers. Farmers who have harvested large crops are facing falling prices. They are calling on the Donald Trump administration to remove tariffs that are more than 20% on U.S. soybeans in China.

Chinese importers, on the other hand, are not feeling the strain, as they have secured soybeans from Brazil in advance. According to preliminary data, they have purchased enough cargoes to cover their needs until early 2026, which postpones any urgency for the resumption of supplies from the United States.

Tags: China, soybean, USA