Current trade tensions and their possible impact on the U.S. soybean industry are troubling to Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas.
Davids, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, shared her thoughts on the matter while speaking at the 2025 Ag Outlook Forum, held recently in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Last month, I did sit down with a group of producers for a roundtable related to international markets, and heard from folks about concerns about tariffs,” Davids said. “I personally consider the approach on tariffs that the administration is taking to be reckless and chaotic, but at the end of the day, tariffs are a tool and can be used for good, and can be detrimental.”
She said for now, it appears the current situation would fall under the detrimental category, and potential buyers of American agriculture goods seem to be disappearing.
Rep. Sharice DavidsJim Barcus Photos
Davids said she recently heard from a soybean farmer who operates in two counties in eastern Kansas. The farmer told her it was going to be a good harvest, but since such a high percentage of U.S. soybeans are sold to China, there could be serious trouble if China decides to halt purchases of U.S. soybeans. There is already a shortage of soybean storage facilities in the U.S., he informed her, and if fewer soybeans are being shipped out of the country, “we could be in real trouble.”
“I think there’s a reality that we’re all butting up against right now with the whiplash of the tariff policies and trade wars, because uncertainty really hurts,” Davids said. “You guys deal with so much uncertainty as it is, from weather and input prices, having tariff uncertainty is a bridge too far.”
Davids also expressed concerns that if trade partnerships are disrupted, relationships between the countries need to be repaired, and doing so is not as simple as flipping a light switch.
Davids was just one member of the Kansas delegation to speak at the Ag Outlook Forum. An article on comments made there by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, appears on WATTPoultry.com.
The Ag Outlook Forum was hosted by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City and Agri-Pulse.
