Update: if you want to know how complex the trade issue is, see this video.
Corporate media has turned to yellow journalism and the blame game when it comes to soybean markets. Today, the Omaha World-Herald printed a whopper from the Wall Street Journal (https://omaha.com/opinion/column/article_7f4dbea7-5d3a-51df-abf4-3c5bbef1e2f4.html).
Yet, when I look at the current market on soybeans, they have been stable for a year:
So why was the soybean market so strong during the Biden years? Drought in many soy producing countries caused shortages benefiting United States soybean growers (https://unitedsoybean.org/hopper/soybean-exports-set-records-in-2022-and-a-look-forward/). Not tariffs, not politics. Just the facts.
It is very simply the law of supply and demand at work. High demand, low supply = high prices.
Brazil and Argentina both had poor crops in 2021~22. China was buying soybeans like mad, so supply was being outstripped by global demand.
Supplies have since rebounded and prices have fallen to near pre-pandemic levels. Even Ukraine has expanded their soy production in 2023~2025, so the supply is now very high, which drives prices lower.