By Sanxuan

The U.S. federal government is still shut down, and as the president, Trump has turned into a live-streaming salesperson. With no orders from China for soybeans coming in, Trump had to find another way to maintain his base of voters. He first promised to give American farmers "huge subsidies" so they could live "well", then sent people to look for new buyers for American soybeans. But so far, what Trump has heard are all bad news.

Trump is now very worried

American conspiracy theories

Firstly, Trump can't get the subsidies for farmers done. Theoretically, since Trump took office, he has earned a lot by imposing tariffs on the global market, and part of that money could be used to help farmers through the difficult times. However, the current U.S. is in a state of anarchy, and there's no one specific to develop and implement the agricultural subsidy policy. Furthermore, many American farmers don't want the subsidies.

According to media reports, these farmers' demands are for Trump to quickly ease relations with China and provide them with a good business environment. While it seems good for the government to offer subsidies, they fear that taking government money might make them lose their land. During this time, some conspiracy theories have spread in the U.S., claiming that high-ranking officials in Trump's team have already invested in farmland acquisition platforms, intending to buy farmland at low prices when wealthy investors face difficulties in farm operations.

American farmers are facing an unprecedented crisis

This is a classic operation of the landlord class consolidating land, which has been seen throughout history in the U.S. Some people may wonder, in the 21st century, how could such things happen? Let's not talk about distant events, during the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street private equity companies bought a large number of properties at extremely low prices, making huge profits, while they didn't care if ordinary people had houses to live in or not.

Trump's plan

Moreover, even if Trump shows kindness and prevents capital groups from taking advantage of the situation, such subsidies would be like drinking poison to quench thirst. The Chinese market that American agricultural products lost has been quickly filled by countries such as Argentina and Brazil. They won't be able to get those orders in the future.

According to U.S. media statistics, in the first nine months of this year, the EU, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and other countries purchased part of the U.S. soybeans according to agreements, but these markets not only have much smaller volumes than China, but also offer lower prices than China, causing significant losses for American farmers. Faced with this, the Trump team had to seek new customers, such as India, which also has 1.4 billion people and was pressured by Trump through trade agreements.

Will India buy American soybeans?

According to several sources from the White House, the Trump team tried to include the purchase of American soybeans in the new round of U.S.-India trade negotiations. However, India itself is an agricultural country, with many farmers relying on growing soybeans to survive. It's not that simple for Modi to sacrifice the interests of his own farmers to help American farmers.

Argentina's choice

Since it's impossible to open up new sources for American farmers, and it's not possible to cut off China's cooperation, what about pressuring Brazil and Argentina to reduce their cooperation with China, so that China would have to buy soybeans from the United States? This method sounds great, but it has no practical feasibility. The reason remains the same: why should other countries sacrifice their own interests for the U.S.?

Brazilian President Lula has already stated that he will not collude with the U.S. Even Argentina's president Milei, who is a fan of Trump, dared not go against domestic public opinion on this issue. Recently, Milei's ruling coalition has fallen into an economic crisis due to election losses, and the Trump team seized the opportunity to offer a $2 billion olive branch, asking Argentina to reduce its cooperation with China.

Milei doesn't listen to Trump

However, Milei not only did not stop his soybean trade with China, but also demanded to upgrade the export standards for sorghum and expand trade with Chinese companies. Facts have shown that Argentina would rather offend the U.S. than let go of China's "leg". After all this effort, Trump hasn't achieved anything, and it's unclear what feelings the American farmers who voted for him have now.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7558754592205423146/

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