US Soybean Farmers Call Exclusion from China Trade Deal a 'Missed Opportunity'

Before the Xi-Trump summit last week, analysts and industry experts expected soybeans to be included in tariff-reduced arrangement

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Nayan Sethin Washington

Published: 6:48am, 29 Sep 2026

US soybean farmers have described the exclusion of US soybeans from China’s import list under the newly announced Board of Trade mechanism as a “missed opportunity”, even as Beijing ramped up purchases of the crop ahead of last week’s summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.

The trade forum, unveiled by both sides on Sunday, covered a range of US agricultural products for export to China, including meat, dairy, corn, wheat, sorghum and vegetable oils, but notably left soybeans off the list.

“This was a missed opportunity for the American farmer,” said John Bartman, an Illinois-based fifth-generation soybean farmer.

Before the summit last week, analysts and industry experts expected soybeans to be included in the tariff-reduced arrangement since US soybeans still face a 10 per cent tariff in China.