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Trump's incompetence is bolstering China—and screwing US farmers




When a photo of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s phone landed online
recently, he was roundly mocked for his terrible operational security. But
buried in his text messages was something far more revealing than just
amateur-hour incompetence.



“Just a heads up. I am getting more intel, but this is highly unfortunate,”
the contact “BR”—assumed to be Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins—texted
Bessent. “We bailed out Argentina yesterday … and in return, the Argentine’s
[sic] removed their export tariffs on grains, reducing their price, and sold a
bunch of soybeans to China, at a time when we would normally be selling to
China. Soy prices [are] dropping further because of it. This gives China more
leverage on us.”

Bessent had gone public the week prior, posting on X about Treasury
Department’s plan to bail out Argentina: “The Treasury is currently in
negotiations with Argentine officials for a $20 billion swap line with the
Central Bank. We are working in close coordination with the Argentine
government to prevent excessive volatility.”




 



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And who’s Trump propping up with U.S. taxpayer money? Right-wing populist
Javier Milei, the libertarian “chainsaw” president of Argentina, who came into
office in late 2023 and immediately gutted the state—slashing ministries, axing
subsidies, nixing increases to pensions and disability benefits, and issuing a
sweeping “mega decree” to dismantle hundreds of regulations.

Far-right billionaire Elon Musk even celebrated him at the Conservative
Political Action Conference earlier this year, wielding a chainsaw Milei had
given him.

But those policies helped tank Argentina’s economy and Milei’s popularity.
With the country’s critical legislative elections looming on Oct. 26, Trump is
now sending Milei $20 billion in hopes of giving him breathing room to survive
politically. To put that in perspective, the entire 2024 budget of the U.S.
Agency for International Development—which Trump and Musk essentially
killed—was $21.7 billion.

Now here’s the kicker: Argentina is now selling huge shipments of soybeans to
China, which takes in 60% of the world’s soybean imports. Before Trump’s trade
war in his first term, the U.S. had a massive slice of that market, but China
has largely shifted to Brazil—and now, timed closely with the announcement of
Trump’s Argentina bailout, Argentina is cashing in, too.




 



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American soybean farmers—who are struggling to sell their harvests—are now
seeing soybean futures sink even lower. China has booked 12 million tonnes of
soybeans from Argentina and Brazil this fall.



“Those early purchases represented about half of China’s demand for the
period, effectively shutting U.S. exporters out of their most lucrative selling
window,” the South China Morning Post reported. “With the American harvest
advancing, bins are filling while ships to Asia remain scarce.”

Even Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa had to ask on X, “Why would USA
help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest
market??? We shld use leverage at every turn to help hurting farm economy
Family farmers shld be top of mind in negotiations by representatives of USA.”

But Trump doesn’t care about Iowa soybean farmers. And those farmers may not
care about themselves, either. Many have sacrificed their livelihoods at the
MAGA altar, voting again and again for the man who destroyed their biggest
market.

Trump promised a trade war. He delivered. And now he’s planning to ship $20
billion to Argentina to help his pal Milei, all while American farmers get
hammered again. And you know what’s wild? Even as Trump sells them out to
China—again—they’ll still vote Republican in future elections.

GOP-backing soybean farmers deserve everything they get.

And Trump? As the text to Bessent said, “This gives China more leverage on
us.” That’s Trump incompetence in action.



Click here to check out this story on DailyKos.com.
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