Chinese tariffs are impacting American agriculture. But declines in exports to other countries are also hurting American agriculture.
Jim Blaze writes about the movement of grain by rail. This is a huge business for U.S. and Canadian railroads, and is also critical to the export market of the two countries.
The Grain Transport Report, a weekly publication by the Agricultural Marketing Service (a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) released information showing that total export inspections for grain (corn, wheat and soybeans) declined 22 percent from the previous week.
Upheaval caused by the U.S.-China trade war has some freight interests uneasy about giving Trump more tariff power.
China imposed a 25% import duty on US soybean imports in July and a domestic shortage of beans is now resulting in Chinese traders paying a higher price for Brazilian beans than what domestic crushers are paying, leading to speculation that China could again increase shipments from the US.
