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Export-sensitive groups worry about tariff retaliation

U.S. Grains Council CEO Tom Sleight says he’s dismayed at new tariffs announced Thursday by the Trump Administration against China.  Sleight tells Brownfield Ag News that Newton’s Third Law of Motion applies to tariffs.

“There will be retaliation and will be a reaction,” Sleight told Brownfield Thursday, “and usually agriculture is at the front of the line when those things happen and that’s something that we’re very concerned about.”

Sleight says the U.S. Grains Council China director has a sense that the situation will be worked out, but Sleight wonders whether that might by too optimistic.

“Buyers over there, particularly in the feed industry that we work with, are interested in what effect this may have on availability of feed grains,” said Sleight, “will there be less sorghum, will there be less corn, will there be less DDGs?”

The American Soybean Association is concerned about potential retaliation from China – the United States’ largest soybean buyer.  China buys nearly a third of U.S. production worth $14 billion annually.  ASA President John Heisdorffer of Iowa says the decision puts soybean farmers across the country in financial danger.

AUDIO: Tom Sleight (6 min. MP3)