FARGO, N.D. (KVLY/Gray News) – President Donald Trump is planning to help out U.S. soybean farmers with an aid package as some farmers in North Dakota are feeling the brunt of the ongoing U.S. trade war with China.
Matt Watne is the North Dakota Farmers Union president. He lives in Fargo but farms north of Velva near Minot.
“These prices don’t work, so how long can you survive that?” he said.
Wayne said farmers are feeling the uncertainty of what might come next.
“They’re very concerned and very uneasy because we have become a non-trusting, unreliable supplier,” Watne said.
Farmers may have to sell crops at a loss because of retaliatory tariffs placed by China.
North Dakota ranked number four in the U.S. in total soybean acres planted and harvested in 2024. For this year’s crop, the U.S.’s biggest buyer, China, has yet to buy a single soybean.
“If China cannot buy any beans from us, we will stockpile them beans here as we either crush them in the U.S. or we find other markets,” Wayne said. “You can’t replace that Chinese market with any other markets in the world.”
As the trade war continues, Watne has a message.
“We’ve never seen a trade war work; it always ends up costing the consumer and the farmer. We’ve never seen that work,” Wayne said.
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