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.

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