U.S. Agriculture Escapes Another Blow From Latest China Tariffs

(Bloomberg) -- China has targeted U.S. agriculture in a big way as the nations exchange fire in an escalating trade war. But luckily for American farmers, they seem to have escaped the latest blow.

Most major U.S. crops were already hit by previously announced Chinese duties, so the fresh duties announced Friday on about $60 billion worth of American goods is leaving the farm largely unscathed. Products that were included in the latest list like soybean oil aren’t heavily shipped to the Asian nation. Fines were also slapped on turkey and chicken breasts, but China has maintained a ban on American poultry imports since 2015.

In the larger picture, U.S. agriculture has been dealt a heavy hit from the trade war. In July, China slapped duties on American shipments of soybeans, cotton, pork, corn, wheat and other items. Farmer groups have decried the trade tensions as soybean futures slumped.

--With assistance from Jen Skerritt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Megan Durisin in Chicago at mdurisin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Millie Munshi, Patrick McKiernan

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