Trump Admin to Announce Aid Package for Farmers Amid China Soybean Deal Within Weeks

U.S. growers lost billions in soybean sales this year as China turned to Brazil and Argentina amid tensions with Washington.

Soybean is offloaded into a truck in Tallahatchie County, Miss., on Oct. 4, 2025. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The Trump administration plans to roll out an aid package for struggling U.S. farmers within the next few weeks, along with finalizing a deal with China on soybean purchases, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Nov. 24.

“We'll have an announcement probably in the next week or two on what that’s going to look like,” Rollins, who leads the Department of Agriculture, told CNBC about the aid.

The Trump administration has pledged help for farmers struggling amid low crop prices and trade tensions, but details on the new plan or dollar figures remain scarce.

American growers lost billions of dollars in soybean sales this year as China, their key customer, turned to Brazil and Argentina amid tensions with Washington.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said on Nov. 24 that the aid was “urgently needed” as farmers endure increasing input costs and falling prices.

First Shipments Since May

In October, after President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, Beijing promised to purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by January, according to the White House.

Last week, China bought nearly 1.6 million metric tons in only three days—its biggest weekly haul in two years—giving crop prices a nice bump.

On China’s soybean buy promises, Rollins said: “We’ve got a significant way to go.

“I know they are inking the deal this week or next week.”

She said she believed that China would honor its purchase commitments.

“Every sign is their commitment remains true that they will indeed buy, or purchase, 12 million metric tons or put the order in,” Rollins said.

“Even if the purchase order comes in before the end of December, those will move early next year.”

Trump noted the developments in a Nov. 24 Truth Social post, saying he and Xi discussed soybeans and other farm goods during a phone call and reached “a good, and very important, deal for our Great Farmers.”

The call was a follow-up to their “highly successful meeting in South Korea, three weeks ago,” Trump said.

“Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate. Now we can set our sights on the big picture,” he said. “To that end, President Xi invited me to visit Beijing in April, which I accepted, and I reciprocated where he will be my guest for a State Visit in the U.S. later in the year.”

Speaking with CNBC on Oct. 2, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the federal government would offer “substantial support“ to soybean growers while negotiations with China took place.

“We’ve got their backs,” he said.

Bessent said that it was “unfortunate that Chinese leadership has decided to use the American farmers, soybean farmers in particular, as a hostage or pawn in the trade negotiations.”

Reuters contributed to this report.