Retaliatory tariffs during trade war led to $27 billion in lost agricultural exports by end of 2019, USDA report concludes

Percent share of estimated annual losses caused by
retaliatory tariffs, by commodity. (USDA chart)

The Trump administration's trade wars with China and other nations led to a significant reduction in U.S. agricultural exports, a loss of more than $27 billion from 2018 through the end of 2019, according to a new report from the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service.

The federal government tried to make up for the loses with $28 billion in payments, but the payouts weren't always equitable; corn farmers were paid too much, the Government Accountability Office concluded. Yet, soybeans were the hardest-hit commodity, accounting for nearly 71% of losses, or $9.4 billion annually, the ERS report says. The next largest annualized losses came from sorghum ($854 million), and pork ($646 million).

China accounted for about 95 percent of the losses, or $25.7 billion, followed by the European Union ($0.6 billion), and Mexico ($0.5 billion). Tariffs from Canada, Turkey and India accounted for smaller losses. The U.S. and China signed a trade agreement in January 2020, but China did not fulfill its commitment to buy $80 billion in U.S. agriculture, seafood and other food exports by the end of 2021. Through November 2021, China had only purchased $56.3 billion.