American farmers have started expressing woes over the retaliatory tariffs that Beijing imposed on U.S. goods such as pork and soybeans. Farmers have rallied to call on the White House for an immediate resolution to the trade dispute.
According to the South China Morning Post, most U.S. farming groups have "lost all hope" for a trade deal to be inked sometime soon. Farmers have been urging the government to explore other markets since tensions between Beijing and the White House fired up over the last few days.
On Friday, the Trump administration proceeded with a 25 percent tariff hike on around $200 billion Chinese goods. China responded two days later with the same percentage of tariff increases on $60 billion American products.
The trade war has since shaken global markets, stocks, and currencies. U.S. farmers said they received some of the most painful hits. "If you asked me two weeks ago, I would have told you I was optimistic about a deal, but now I've just done a 180 and I'm not optimistic at all," president of the Iowa Soybean Association, Lindsay Greiner, said.
Aside from tariff increases rocking the global trade empire, soybean prices dropped to its lowest yet in a decade on Monday's market opening. For Greiner and many other American soybean farmers, the situation has "gone from bad to worse" and while optimism was good earlier this month, last week's tensions increased fears.
Pork producers have also expressed woes over the trade dispute. Spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, Jim Monroe, said they would prefer if the Trump administration resolves its issues with China.
Monroe also recommended that the government try to consider other markets if it can no longer salvage the long-awaited trade deal with China.
Meanwhile, some experts believe the China-U.S. trade war will end soon since the countries involved are heavily relying on each other for trade. According to a CNN analysis by Matt Egan, the warring nations "need one another" for survival and growth.
Chief Market Strategist at SunTrust, Keith Lerner, echoed Egan's sentiments. Lerner argued that both China and the U.S. should learn to coexist for the sake of markets getting impacted by the trade war.
In line with the ongoing tensions with China, many Democrats expressed disappointment over how the U.S. President handled the issue. They said the problem could not have reached this point if Trump was more effective in persuasion.
Economic analysts are expecting the U.S. economy to potentially slip into recession if the trade war doesn't stop as stocks continue to go down. The Chinese economy is also expected to feel the heat if a deal isn't reached soon.
