China expected to bite back on US soybean subsidies

China’s Global Times has stated that US soybean subsidies are giving the US an unfair advantage selling to China.

China is the top soybean importer of the world, buying 60% of all soybeans globally. Its main suppliers are the US and Brazil.

The article by the Global Times stated that “strong restrictive measures” need to be used to prevent the abundance of soybeans produced due to subsidies being “dumped” on China. The Global Times is a Communist Party state-run newspaper owned by the People’s Daily.

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The statement comes before Trump is expected to announce a huge quantity of tariffs against Chinese imports, mainly including technology and telecommunications services, in addition to the existing steel and aluminium restrictions which have not affected China massively since it is not he US’s main exporter.

One of Trump’s stated reasons for the new tariffs will be to make China change its intellectual property and investment practises.

The Global Times has suggested that action will be taken against Trump’s increasingly protectionist policies.

The report stated: “The US is actually the breaker of WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules, which can be seen clearly by how subsidised US soybeans are dumped on China. Strong restrictive measures need to be taken against the massive subsidies… this can reduce adverse effects of imported soybeans…”

China imports around 100mn tons of soybeans every year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

The newspaper statement appears to be a sign China will take action in the developing US “trade war”, and the US stated this week it will defend its soybean producers.