By its tariff-focus on US soya beans, China hopes to hit President Trump’s political base badly. But by massively boosting local production of the crop, the Chinese Government has taken things one step further: they want to eliminate US soya leverage on their country for good.
I don’t think Trump anticipated this. I think he expected China to turn to Brazil, another major exporter of soya beans.
But China has since found out that when Brazil exhausts its massive cache of locally produced soya, it is likely to turn to US soya, which it will import then re-export to China entreport style. It has happened before.
But this time around China wants to deter Trump by absolutely crushing US supplies of soya beans to it, whether directly or indirectly through Brazil.
Good move!
Best decision