U.S. and China agree to reduce tariffs

May 12, 2025
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

The 90-day pause is welcomed, the American Soybean Association says

The United States and China have agreed to a three-month tariff reduction.

A joint statement from the two countries on May 12 indicates the U.S. will reduce tariffs on China to a minimum of 30 percent. And China agreed to reduce its tariffs on U.S. products to 10 percent and to remove non-trade barriers and restrictions.

Each country was charging the other tariffs of 145 and 125 percent, respectively.

This truce will last for about 90 days while the two sides continue to negotiate.

The soybean industry is pleased with this development.

The tariff reduction is welcomed, but more needs to be down to ensure American soybeans are competitive on the global market, said Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association.

“This is a big development and one we are very pleased to hear, yet the tariff that remains in place for U.S. soy is far from inconsequential: Products purchased from our competitors in Brazil and Argentina are not burdened with this extra cost,” he said in a statement.

That means China will turn to South America first for its purchases and only buy U.S. soybeans when it absolutely must,” Ragland said. “Also important to note, the 90-day pause will end in August—right before our harvest season. We need the administration to continue its negotiations with China to find a long-term, sustainable solution that removes retaliatory tariffs and protects market access for our agricultural products.”

Soybean markets reached positively to the temporary truce.

Prices reached as high as $10.60 per bushel, marking the highest point since Feb. 6.

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”