By Ben Felder
U.S. agricultural exports faced significant challenges in 2025, largely due to a global trade war, as President Trump raised tariffs on several countries, who responded with their own hikes or shifts in agricultural purchases.
The largest shift came in exports to China, which drastically reduced its purchase of soybeans. Compared to 2022, U.S. agricultural exports to China dropped by 55% last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
While some countries have increased U.S. agricultural buying, including Mexico, India and Colombia, the overall drop in Asia has led to an overall deficit.
“For most of recent history, the U.S. was a net agricultural exporter. But in the last couple of years, that has reversed, and what used to be a persistent surplus has turned into a persistent and growing deficit, where we’re importing much more than we export,” said William Ridley, associate professor of agricultural economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in a recent report.
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