China has just shown the country’s true playbook: weaponize American agriculture to inflict instant pain on rural communities and force political concessions. On March 4, 2025, Beijing slapped additional levies on U.S. farm goods — adding 15 percent on items like chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and 10 percent on soybeans, pork, beef and dairy — measures Reuters and the Associated Press report will hit roughly $21 billion of U.S. exports.
This isn’t abstract trade trivia — it’s a direct attack on hardworking American farmers who feed our country and export our prosperity. China is the biggest market for many U.S. commodities, and those sales have already slid in recent years; past rounds of retaliation forced federal bailouts and left communities scrambling.
Let’s be clear: Beijing is being strategic, not sentimental. By targeting soybeans, pork and feed grains — core inputs to livestock and food production — China is maximizing political pressure with surgical economic pain, while simultaneously accelerating its pivot to other suppliers. This is trade as geopolitics, and it will drive up input costs and push inflation higher here at home if Washington doesn’t respond intelligently.
The Biden administration’s and Congress’s options are simple but decisive: protect farmers without endorsing unlimited, unfocused bailouts that reward failure. First, open new markets and remove regulatory barriers that let U.S. producers shift sales to allies and emerging buyers; second, pursue targeted, immediate relief for producers who are demonstrably harmed; and third, harden supply chains and push reciprocal measures that hit Chinese vulnerabilities without slamming American consumers. Reuters’ reporting shows China already is sourcing more from Brazil and others, so diversifying markets must be a priority.
Patriotic Americans must demand that our leaders stop playing defense and start fighting smart. We can be tough on China without blowing up our economy — but that requires principled conservatism, not knee‑jerk tariffs that hand Beijing a political cudgel. If policymakers refuse to shield farmers while tightening trade rules and expanding markets, those same voters who have stood by conservative candidates will make their voices heard at the ballot box.
