【By Liu Bai, Observers Network】American soybean farmers are still desperately waiting for Chinese orders, but the Argentine government, which Trump considers an "ally," suddenly canceled the soybean export tax to grab the market. Moreover, the Trump administration is also planning to intervene to help the Argentine financial market, causing a growing sense of betrayal in the United States.

At last week's United Nations General Assembly in New York, someone captured a scene: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen received a private text message, which was a complaint about Argentina lowering the export tax. This photo has spread across major Argentine media.

According to a report by Argentina's main newspaper, La Nación, on September 26, the text message included a link to a tweet by American grain trader Ben Shore, and it said: "Just a reminder, I am still collecting more information, but the situation is very unfortunate. Yesterday we helped Argentina, and then Argentina canceled the grain export tax, selling at a lower price to China, which should have been our sales window. That's why the U.S. soybean prices continue to fall, giving China more leverage over us!"

As for Ben Shore's tweet, he was criticizing Yellen's statement about aiding Argentina. He wrote: "We're busy helping Argentina, while China has already stockpiled 20 ships of Argentine soybeans. They think you're naive."

Although the specific identity of the sender of the text message cannot be determined, from the screen of Yellen's phone, the letters "BR" can be seen, which match the initials of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The sender also asked Yellen to call back later.

Last week, AP caught U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looking at a text message during the United Nations General Assembly.

In early September, the loss of the ruling coalition election in Argentina triggered a severe financial market turmoil, and Trump quickly expressed willingness to consider offering assistance.

Yellen stated on the 22nd that Argentina is a significant U.S. ally. If the Argentine government under Milei fails to get out of the current fiscal crisis, the Trump administration will consider "all stabilization options" to support Argentina and carry out "massive strong" intervention.

The next day, Yellen elaborated on the support measures for the Argentine market, planning to support the Argentine economy through a $20 billion currency swap and bond purchases, aiming to help the Milei government deal with the electoral pressure and stabilize the financial market.

With the opportunity of the United Nations General Assembly, Milei held a bilateral meeting with Trump on the 23rd in New York. Trump praised this Argentine president as "a truly outstanding leader," "a good friend, fighter, and winner."

At the same time, there were reports that the United States is pressuring Argentina to cancel its currency swap agreement with China and set the condition of maintaining distance from China at the United Nations General Assembly for future financial support.

Sarcastically, almost at the same time as the U.S. government continuously showing favor to Argentina, the Milei government announced on the 22nd the temporary cancellation of the export tax on soybeans, corn, wheat, and by-products, stimulating exports. The Argentine soybean tariff once reached 26%, and the tariffs on soy oil and meal reached 24.5%, now reduced to zero, stimulating $7 billion in sales within two days.

As a result, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange soybean futures prices fell for the second consecutive week last week, with active contracts dropping to $10.1 per bushel (one U.S. bushel of soybeans is approximately 27.216 kilograms). Corn and wheat also saw declines.

Reuters quoted traders on the 26th, stating that during the period when Argentina suspended the collection of agricultural product export taxes, a total of 40 ships of soybeans for November and December delivery were registered for export, most of which were sold to China. This period coincided with the U.S. soybean export season, and Chinese buyers purchasing Argentine soybeans severely hit U.S. exports.

Traders said that during the period of suspension of the soybean export tax, the registered volume of soybean exports for November and December delivery was 2.66 million tons, accounting for more than half of the total registered soybean exports for all months during the tax-free period, which amounted to 5.1 million tons.

La Nación estimated that this transaction caused "billions of dollars" in losses for U.S. agricultural producers.

In fact, this trend had already emerged since August. Traders reported that under the risk of prolonged trade conflicts, Chinese companies increased their soybean inventories, and China's soybean imports in August reached another record high, mainly from Brazil and Argentina, almost completely pushing out U.S. soybeans.

April 6, Arrecifes, Argentina, farmers are harvesting soybeans. Visual China

Customs data shows that China imported 73.312 million tons of soybeans from January to August, an increase of 4% compared to the same period last year. Among them, the import volume of soybeans in August was 12.279 million tons, an increase of 5.2% compared to the previous month, setting a new record for the fourth consecutive month.

Last year, China imported a total of 105 million tons of soybeans, of which more than 22 million tons came from the United States. However, traders said that before the new harvest season of Brazil in 2026, China may rely almost entirely on South American supplies this season.

Argentina is the third largest soybean producer in the world, after Brazil and the United States. Due to the Sino-U.S. trade conflict, China did not purchase any shipload of soybeans from the United States during this autumn harvest season.

Seeing the stagnation of U.S. soybean exports to China, Argentina seized the opportunity to capture the market, and U.S. farmers were in despair.

The falling prices have increased the pressure on farmers in the Midwest of the United States, who are a crucial voting bloc for Trump. Farmers in Indiana and Minnesota have warned that government subsidies cannot replace the lost Chinese market demand.

The Hong Kong English media, South China Morning Post, pointed out that this dissatisfaction further intensified the tension between the U.S. agricultural sector and the Trump administration. As a result, the U.S. Soybean Association has been constantly pressuring the Trump administration to provide economic support to domestic farmers. The association also accused Trump of delaying aid to the U.S. agricultural sector while readily providing assistance to his Latin American ally, Argentina.

Kaleb Lagrand, president of the U.S. Soybean Association, stated in a recent article in The New York Times: "The U.S. soybean prices are falling, the harvest is ongoing, and what farmers see in the news is not how the U.S. government is reaching a trade agreement with China, but rather the content about providing $2 billion in economic aid to Argentina."

"It's very unfortunate that when the U.S. is helping Argentina stabilize its economy, they are harming the interests of U.S. farmers and weakening President Trump's negotiations with China," said Republican Representative Julie Fedorchak from North Dakota, "This is a bitter pill for soybean growers in North Dakota."

This article is an exclusive piece by Observer's Network. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7555721441501561396/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author and welcomes your opinion through the 【like/dislike】 buttons below.