Overview

• USDA data show China has purchased no U.S. soybeans in the 2025–26 marketing year, pressuring prices and straining local grain elevators as Pacific Northwest export flows slow.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said growers should expect news Tuesday on substantial support, with multiple reports pointing to an initial package around $10 billion and questions over funding beyond the roughly $4 billion left in USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation.
• Producers in Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas report thin or negative margins and higher input costs such as fertilizer, compounding losses from the loss of their largest export customer.
• Buyers in China have shifted to South American suppliers, chiefly Brazil and Argentina, raising worries that U.S. market share could be hard to regain even if tariffs ease.
• Editorial voices, including the Wall Street Journal board, argue planned payments underscore the domestic costs of tariffs, while lawmakers note a 2018–19 precedent of about $28 billion in aid and suggest new assistance is likely.