US Soybean and Timber Imports Banned
“From China’s perspective this isn’t about trade, it is about Washington’s long-standing attempt to contain China’s rise, and now China is making it clear those days are over.”
Chinese customs authorities on Tuesday March 4 2025 announced the immediate suspension of US log imports and the suspension of soybean export qualifications for three of the largest US agricultural companies. Earlier in the day, China also imposed import levies covering US$21 billion worth of US agricultural and food products including wheat, meat and cotton, in addition to soybeans.
About half of US soya bean exports are shipped to China, totalling nearly US$12.8 billion in trade in 2024, according to the US Census Bureau.
Beijing’s measures were an immediate and direct response to the Trump regime’s decision to impose a further 10 per cent duty on China, effective March 4, resulting in a cumulative 20 per cent tariff on Chinese imports.
China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced the suspension of US log imports under the country’s biological safety law, the entry and exit animal and plant quarantine law, and International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures.
The GAC said recent inspections of imported US logs revealed quarantine pests such as bark beetles and longhorn beetles, and the move is to prevent the introduction of harmful organisms and safeguard China’s agricultural and forestry production as well as ecological security.
Soybean export qualifications (to China) were also suspended for US companies CHS Inc., LOUIS DREYFUS COMPANY GRAINS MERCHANDISING LLC, and EGT LLC, due to recent detections of ergot and seed-coated soybeans in imported US soybeans.
GAC said the move was based on China’s food safety law, measures on the supervision and administration of inspection and quarantine for import and export grain, as well as the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures under the WTO. The move aims to protect the health of Chinese consumers and ensure the safety of imported grain, the GAC said.
For an excellent discussion of the major geopolitical significance and timing of China’s bans on US agriculture see the linked video https://youtu.be/Mx5CiWpAxXQ
Sources:
Straits Times, Mar 05, 2025. https://www.straitstimes.com/…/china-hits-us-soybean…
Global Times, Mar 4, 2025. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202503/1329469.shtml
We Love Africa, Mar 6, 2025. https://youtu.be/Mx5CiWpAxXQ
China Environment News 