02.01.2026, Moscow.
US soybean farmers are on the brink…
China’s massive investments in the development of Latin American infrastructure and economic relations with the region are pushing US farmers to the brink.
A port located near São Paulo handles nearly a quarter of Brazil’s soybean exports. For decades, US food processing corporations such as Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, and Cargill have operated their facilities at this port.
Today, they share space with COFCO International, a Chinese state-owned food conglomerate, that has invested about $285 million in the port infrastructure in recent years. Moreover, the port of Chancay is being built on Peru’s central coast.
The Chinese state company COSCO Shipping is investing more than $3.5 billion in the construction of 15 berths, logistics facilities, and a tunnel nearly 1.8 km long. This will allow cargo to be routed directly from the port to nearby highways.
Once fully operational, Chancay will function as a regional redistribution hub for exports from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia — from copper and lithium to soybeans and other agricultural products. It is expected that after construction is completed, around 2035, it will become the third-largest port in the region.
In total, Chinese investments are involved to varying degrees in 23 ports across Latin America. Such large-scale capital inflows have enabled China to increase its purchases of agricultural products from the region.
This is especially important for China amid the escalation of the trade war with the United States. After President Donald Trump sharply raised import tariffs, China has been consistently moving away from cooperation with US agricultural producers.
China first began this pivot in 2018, during Trump’s first presidential term, when tariff hikes by the US president triggered a trade war. After returning to power at the beginning of 2025, Trump resumed his strategy.
China’s huge long-term investments in the region’s economic development indicate that Beijing is clearly counting on reorienting its market or at least trying to diversify trade flows amid extremely unpredictable US policy.
US analysts are seriously concerned about the situation. “What are the signs that China’s here to stay [in Latin America]? Really, the infrastructure. Ports, railways, roads, bridges, metro lines, energy, power plants are probably the best signs that China has a long-term commitment … These are long-term projects,” said Henry Ziemer, an associate fellow with the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Economist Daniel Munch of the American Farm Bureau Federation expressed a similar view: when a country gains control over ports (such as the port of Chancay) that make trade faster, cheaper, and more reliable, trade flows tend to reorient. He warned that none of the US container ports rank among the world’s top 50.
The fact that China has decided to firmly establish itself in Latin America is very bad news for US farmers, especially soybean growers. Soybeans are a product on which US agriculture traditionally relies. Moreover, in 2024 more than 40% of US soybeans were exported, and roughly half of that volume went to China.
However, amid the intensification of the trade war in 2025, Trump’s threats, and his unprecedented tariff hikes against China, Beijing reduced soybean imports from the United States to nearly zero for half a year. In this situation, Brazil reacted quickly, becoming China’s largest soybean supplier in a very short time.
Analysts note that China has been viewing Brazil as a strategic partner for several years, primarily due to soybean supplies, and is investing in the region to strengthen its control over logistics and infrastructure.
Thanks to Chinese investments, business activity is rising in Latin America, while many US ports are experiencing a significant decline. According to data from the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, soybean exports in the New Orleans district, the dominant grain corridor, rose only slightly, by less than 3% year-on-year.
Shipments through the Los Angeles district fell by 15%, while exports in the Seattle district collapsed by 81%. At the Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the Western Hemisphere, agricultural exports have also weakened amid reduced trade with China. At the same time, despite a recent trade agreement lifting China’s suspension of US soybean imports, market experts do not expect a rapid recovery in cargo turnover at American ports.
US soybean farmers unanimously say that replacing China’s billion-dollar market is virtually impossible. A recent analysis by Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture showed that exports to China this year will be the weakest since 2018.
“U.S. soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice,” said Caleb Ragland, head of the American Soybean Association.
While Beijing is actively developing new ties and expanding existing ones, building long-term infrastructure to secure its supply chains, Washington is trying to contain the consequences of tariff hikes. The United States is destroying with its own hands the connections that in many ways ensured the stability of its economy. And the new trade routes being created by China through Latin America are complicating any potential recovery of the US economy.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
