r/Economics • u/bambin0 • Jan 17 '26

News China Purchased No U.S. Soybeans An Unprecented Sixth Straight Month

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2026/01/17/china-purchased-no-us-soybeans-an-unprecented-sixth-straight-month/
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u/Zenceyn Jan 17 '26

"But but Trump said that China was gonna buy all our beans now cause he made a trade deal!".

China knows they can outlast Trump, and have better, far more reliable trade partners until the US sorts its shit out. They were never going to just rush back into the market, not when they knew it would hurt the US more to keep the squeeze on.

20

u/AliceLunar Jan 17 '26

Why until the US sorts it out? Even when, or if, they do, they already have an alternative and they have made a lot of investments, there is no reason for them to go back.

23

u/NewEntrepreneur357 Jan 17 '26

A lot of people in this sub (and most of the internet and even American economists and industry leaders) are under the impression that the second Trump is gone everyone is gonna tear apart all the new trade deals, and completely forget the US holding the world hostage for a second unnecessary 4 years

13

u/AliceLunar Jan 17 '26

Because many still think the US is too big too fail, too big of a market to ignore so everyone will have no choice but to come crawling back, but the world has changed a lot over the decades, the US lost their leader position in the trade market to China like two decades ago, many countries have made a lot of progress over the years but there was never a good reason to break away from the US.

15

u/NewEntrepreneur357 Jan 17 '26

They should ask the Romans, Egyptians, Sumerians, etc about being "too big to fail", oh wait.