Articles Tagged: China

China is expected to step up U.S. soybean purchases to meet a pledge to buy at least 12 million tons by the end of the year, according to multiple traders.

China’s purchases of American soybeans appear to have stalled, less than two weeks after the U.S. touted a wide-ranging trade truce between the world’s two biggest economies.

“This is a very good thing. I’m very grateful,” said Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt, who is a director with the United Soybean Board. "I don’t want to sound like a ungrateful farmer, but it doesn’t cure everything in the short term.”

With China halting U.S. soybean purchases and prices sinking below break-even levels, Iowa Republicans Zach Nunn and Joni Ernst are urging the Trump administration to act swiftly to restore trade and strengthen domestic demand.

Iowa farm leaders and Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley are pressing President Donald Trump’s administration to take urgent action after China cut off purchases of American soybeans, threatening one of the state’s most important export markets.

Also, Iowa auditor’s office earns top rating in external review

Senate Republicans from farm states and soybean growers are sounding the alarm over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which they say are deepening economic pain in rural America.

U.S. Department of Agriculture chief Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday that the U.S. government will move to ban sales of farmland nationwide to Chinese buyers and other foreign adversaries, citing threats to national security and food security.

The tariffs aim to renegotiate trade agreements bilaterally, which could take years, affecting farmers and the state's economy, said Iowa State University economic professor Peter Orazem.

Stocks surged to one of their biggest gains since World War II after President Donald Trump paused his tariffs against most other nations, as investors had desperately hoped he would.

Stock markets worldwide are careening even lower Friday after China matched President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs in an escalating trade war. Not even a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market, which is usually the economic highlight of each month, was enough to stop the slide.

"The models they built are fantastic, but they aren't miracles either," said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who follows the semiconductor industry and was one of several stock analysts describing Wall Street's reaction as overblown.

The shock to financial markets came from China, where a company called DeepSeek said it had developed a large language model that can compete with U.S. giants but at a fraction of the cost.

Ernst declined Thursday to commit to supporting Hegseth, who faces allegations of sexual impropriety, financial mismanagement, public drunkenness and other personal misconduct.

The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work.