Seth Sandrosky Common Dreams

Soy it ain't so: how Trump is selling out his own voters while bailing out somebody else's

Trade policy isn’t sexy, but it is weighty, economically speaking. Jobs and wage-income are at-stake. Take President Trump’s trade policy, notably his fondness for tariffs, a tax on US imports that businesses and workers pay.

We begin with the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion “swap line” (currency exchanges between central banks) with the government of Argentina. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the point man for the White House on this financial and political issue. Behind Bessent is a Wall Street hedge fund manager, Rob Citrone, a major foreign investor in Argentina, CNN reported.

The Latin American country is in financial distress over its issuance of foreign bonds since President Javier Milei slashed public spending to spur economic growth. Such economic policy goes by the name of austerity.

However, Milei’s so-called pro-growth approach has had the opposite effect. Hunger and poverty among the Argentine working class are up. Workers’ household income is down.

“Argentina’s poverty rate has soared to almost 53 percent in the first six months of Javier Milei’s presidency,” reports The Guardian, “offering the first hard evidence of how the far-right libertarian’s tough austerity measures are hitting the population.”

What in part preceded such measures slamming the Argentine people was inflation, a general rise in prices.

In the meantime, the Milei government cut the export tax on soybeans. Chinese buyers jumped at this opportunity, reportedly purchasing some 20 shiploads of soybeans from Argentina.

That tax holiday cut revenue to the Argentine government, and created the trade conditions for lower export prices for foreign buyers. That arrangement didn’t fix the tax revenue problem for the Argentine government, however.

Meanwhile, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland shared this statement on some impacts of Trump’s trade policy of tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies:

US soybean farmers have been clear for months: the administration needs to secure a trade deal with China. China is the world’s largest soybean customer and typically our top export market. The US has made zero sales to China in this new crop marketing year due to 20% retaliatory tariffs imposed by China in response to US tariffs. This has allowed other exporters, Brazil and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of US farmers.

According to Politico, the use of tariffs in China-US trade is having far-reaching effects on American agriculture generally.

“The 20 percent retaliatory tariff that Beijing has imposed on US imports hasn’t just pounded soybean producers. All agriculture exports to China were down 53 percent in the first seven months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to USDA data.”

Ragland, head of the ASA, continues his criticism of Trump’s trade policy on American soybean farmers:

“The frustration is overwhelming. US soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the US government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.

”ASA is calling on President Trump and his negotiating team to prioritize securing an immediate deal on soybeans with China. The farm economy is suffering while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.“

What will the White House do to relieve the pain from the decline of demand from China for American agricultural products? Well, the president is considering a $10-$15 billion bailout for agriculture commodity producers.

Wait. There is a federal government shutdown. In other words, the allocation and distribution of a federal bailout for farmers experiencing a shortage of buyers from China will have to wait for the government shutdown to end. Your guess is as good as mine when that happens.

Such contradictions of economics and politics drive history, according to Marx. The federal government shutdown over health care spending while US Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops deploy on the streets of American cities for reason of so-called public safety are two cases in point. Trade policy that harms domestic agriculture generally and soybean growers particularly is another.

Seth Sandronsky is a Sacramento journalist and member of the freelancers unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild.

This key group opposes Trump's Big Beautiful Bill

President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, is a dream of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. However, the same bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday is also a loaded gun of healthcare spending cuts aimed at the American people, 11.8 million of whom could lose their coverage by 2034, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Some of these Americans are mom-and-pop entrepreneurs.

Dr. Alexia McClerkin owns The Wellness Doc in Houston, Texas. She can't afford to buy herself health insurance and relies on Medicaid for her three sons' coverage. Dr. McClerkin has a bird's-eye view of how her patients cope with paying their healthcare bills.

Doug Scheffel is president of ETM Manufacturing in Littleton, Massachusetts. Two of his employees rely on state health exchanges. Other employees of Scheffel are care providers for family members receiving Medicaid.

In a recent survey of 574 small business owners, seven of 10 opposed the spending cuts in H.R. 1 that seeks to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. According to this Small Business for America's Future (SBAF) survey, 27% support the healthcare cuts in H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and 5% are not sure.

This SBAF survey found that 58% of small businesses have owners, employees, or family members who rely on Medicaid, healthcare that covers the disabled, elderly, and low-income Americans, or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP coverage), low-cost or free care for kids in families whose annual income disqualifies them from Medicaid, an alternative to unaffordable private healthcare insurance.

According to the SBAF survey, 56% of respondents themselves, their employees, or family members use Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace coverage with premium tax credits set to expire that are not extended in the H.R. 1 legislation.

Over half, or 52%, of responding small business owners stated that climbing healthcare insurance harms their bottom lines.

"Small businesses cannot afford to be shut out of access to affordable healthcare. Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, and enhanced ACA premium tax credits are lifelines for small business, their families, and their workers," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in a written statement.

"If Republicans gut these programs or allow them to expire, healthcare costs for small businesses and their families will skyrocket, employees will lose coverage, and entrepreneurs will be stifled. We must expand access to health coverage for all, especially small businesses."

A policy alternative for universal health coverage is Medicare for All. However, passing such legislation through Congress for the president to sign faces stiff opposition from the healthcare industry. It has been successful in blocking Medicare for All.

"Small business owners have been crying out for relief from crushing healthcare costs for years, and Congress' response is to make it worse," said SBAF co-chair Walt Rowen, owner of Susquehanna Glass Company in Columbia, Pennsylvania, in a statement.

"These cuts don't solve problems—they shift costs from government programs onto the businesses least able to absorb them, all while extending tax breaks for corporations that already pay lower effective rates than the corner store."