LOADINGERROR LOADING
If you frequent a farmers market, maybe you should expect a whole lot of soybeans for the foreseeable future.
A photo snapped by The Associated Press’ Angelina Katsanis during last week’s United Nations General Assembly shows a text message sent to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from someone whose initials match those of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
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And if it was Rollins, she seemed pretty ticked off.
The Sept. 23 text references Bessent’s plan, publicly announced the next day, for the U.S. to send Argentina, whose right-leaning president has overseen a flailing economy, what is essentially a $20 billion bailout.
“Just a heads up. I am getting more intel, but this is highly unfortunate,” the message began. “We bailed out Argentina yesterday (Bessent) and in return, the Argentine’s removed their export tariffs on grains, reducing their price, and sold a bunch of soybeans to China, at a time when we would normally be selling to China. Soy prices dropping further because of it. This gives China more leverage on us.”
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Along with this message, the text also included a link to grain trader Ben Scholl’s criticism of Bessent’s intention to bail out Argentina.
“They think you are stupid,” Scholl wrote.
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The message then concludes with the sender writing: “On a plane but scott I can call you when I land.”
HuffPost has reached out to the Treasury Department and Rollins for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
China, the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, has not purchased any American soybeans since May, thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariff wars, Politico reports. China has decided to pivot and buy from Latin American suppliers such as Brazil and now Argentina, cutting the U.S. out and leaving American farmers scrambling.
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And just a reminder about what kind of guy Argentina’s President Javier Milei is — he was the dude who gifted Elon Musk the bedazzled chainsaw the billionaire waved around on stage during the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. Milei stood on stage with the then-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, enthusiastically giving the thumbs-up as Musk paraded the power tool around the stage and proclaimed it was the “chainsaw for bureaucracy.”
Milei, much like Musk, is a fan of drastic public spending cuts.
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Last week, the American Soybean Association begged Trump to make a deal with China.
“U.S. farmers cannot wait and hope any longer,” ASA President Caleb Ragland said in a statement. “ASA is calling on President Trump and his negotiating team to prioritize securing an immediate deal on soybeans with China. The farm economy is suffering while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.”