US farmers caught in a trade war with China »Manila Business Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Terry Davidson expects to be a farmer long after the US-Chinese tariffs that have took effect Friday have become a distant memory.

The soybean producer in Illinois is more optimistic than others Farmers in the Midwestern agricultural belt are not so sure after the bursts of opening up in a war commercial.

All are caught in the middle, after Washington has imposed a 25 percent tariff on $ 34 billion in Chinese, electronic and high-tech machines. Beijing had already declared soybeans to be one of the American products it would counter and fought back dollar for dollar immediately after US tariffs took effect in accordance with President Donald Trump's repeated criticism of China's economic practices

. "We have survived since the 1800s and we continue," Davidson said. 41 years old, a fifth-generation farmer and a Democrat among the Republicans. "So, I think we'll continue."

In the meantime, he does not know how tariffs will affect prices that he can order for its harvest when the time of harvest arrives in a few months.

Try to fill up with American soybeans. what China has done for us, "Davidson told AFP, marking a cautious optimism on his farm near Harvard, Illinois, a two-hour drive away and Chicago gap

. farmers – and the interest groups that represent them – sound the alarm

Soy growers are particularly concerned. They sell most of their crops overseas and China is their biggest and most dynamic market.

Although many farmers support Trump's stated efforts to negotiate better trade deals, many are unsure.

Mixed views

Illinois is the country's largest soybean producer and is home to about 43,000 farmers who grow the crop.

Soybeans, it is said, are relatively cheap Harvesting is easy to spot at Harvard, covering miles and miles (kilometers) of land, including on Davidson's family farm

. ] Half of his land is reserved for soybeans, the other half for maize

Davidson's thick rows of soybeans already measure three feet (one meter), with large leaves hiding the small pods of beans. He intends to harvest in early autumn

Because he has no warehouse, he will have to sell the crop immediately after the harvest and accept any what he can get.

"I've never heard of a fare on soy," Davidson said, her hair whitened almost white by hours spent under the hot sun.

"But I do not have any Not worried at all, because I really believe it will end up "

Tariffs can potentially wreak havoc on soybean prices, which began to drop in May in anticipation of a war

"In the short term, we take a hit," said a Kentucky farmer Davie Stephens, 52.

"There have not been many tariff wars, so some of them Among us have experienced this for the first time, "he said.

Patient, for the time being

The American Soybean Association encourages farmers to to express in a society The media hashtag campaign, hoping at least to help maintain ephemeral rates.

"More lo For a long time it continues, China is looking – and other customers are looking – to find other sources (of soy), "said farmer Wayne Fredericks, who is on the board of directors of the association.

The potential peril is not only farmers.

Any economic pain could translate to Trump's political difficulties. Soy is grown in some of the Midwestern states that elected it in 2016.

The Trump administration believes that tariffs are needed to hold Beijing accountable for what the president has described as a treatment sneaky economy of the United States. The US trade deficit with China reached a record high of $ 375.2 billion last year (19659007) as many farmers say they are ready to give Trump the benefit of the doubt – hoping that It will eventually conclude lucrative new commercial agreements.

"We have supported an effort to correct these trade imbalances," said Fredericks, a fourth-generation farmer in Iowa.

Profit "almost zero"

(imposing tariffs) works, that's great. If it does not work, there will be a lot of disappointment, "he said.

The unanswered question is how long farmers can hold in. Michael Bolland, who studies agribusiness at the University of Minnesota, expects the economic pain to last as long. "The soybean farmer has already planted a crop and there was little profit," Boland told reporters. "AFP." The tariff will reduce this profit to almost zero, or even negative. "

In Harvard, Davidson is more optimistic, expecting the opposition of the farmers and the" farmers "to be in favor. others lead to a change in the tariff policy

.It will be enough to revolt, he says, so that it ends. "