Soybean futures in Chicago rose back above $10 a bushel for the first time in a week
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MUSTAFAH KK
US President Donald Trump said he hoped China massively stepped up its purchases of American soybeans — comments that come a day before a trade truce expires.
“China is worried about its shortage of soybeans,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social website on Monday. “I hope China will quickly quadruple its soybean orders. This is also a way of substantially reducing China’s Trade Deficit with the USA.”
Trump also thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the post, without saying why.
Soybean futures in Chicago rose back above $10 a bushel for the first time in a week, jumping more than 2% after the post.
China has long fretted about its supplies of soybeans, which are a key element of the nation’s diet and livestock feed. Beijing faces an Aug. 12 deadline for its tariff truce with the US to expire, though the Trump administration has signaled that is likely to be extended.
China has stepped up purchases of soybeans from its top supplier Brazil, and is also testing trial cargoes of soybean meal from Argentina, to secure supplies of the animal feed ingredient amid the trade war with the US.
The world’s top buyer of the oilseed hasn’t booked any cargoes of US soybeans as of end July for the upcoming marketing year that starts in September, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
China agreed to increase buying of US agricultural goods like soybeans during the so-called phase one trade agreement reached during Trump’s first term. Beijing fell well short of the purchase targets in that pact.
While China and the US have been trying to work out a trade deal, other issues have been complicating their relationship. Last week, China defended its imports of Russian oil, pushing back against US threats of new tariffs after Washington slapped secondary levies on India for buying energy from Moscow.
And on Sunday, a social media account affiliated with state-run China Central Television that regularly signals Beijing’s thinking about trade slammed an Nvidia Corp. chip’s supposed security vulnerabilities and inefficiency.
In July, the Trump administration reversed course to allow Nvidia to sell the H20 AI accelerator to China.
Published on August 11, 2025
