China's Snub of U.s. Soybeans Is a Crisis for American Farmers
Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago
nytimes.comOtherstory
heatednegative
Debate
60/100
Us-China TradeSoybean ExportsTariffs
Key topics
Us-China Trade
Soybean Exports
Tariffs
The article discusses how China's refusal to buy US soybeans is affecting American farmers, with commenters debating the role of Trump's tariffs in the crisis.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Moderate engagementFirst comment
N/A
Peak period
8
0-1h
Avg / period
2.8
Comment distribution11 data points
Loading chart...
Based on 11 loaded comments
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Sep 15, 2025 at 12:41 PM EDT
4 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Sep 15, 2025 at 12:41 PM EDT
0s after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
8 comments in 0-1h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Sep 16, 2025 at 3:10 AM EDT
4 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
ID: 45251852Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 5:23:56 PM
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
You get what you asked for.
“Too strong a belief in the rationality of people in general, or of the world, will lead us to seek purposive explanations where none exists.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/15/farm-labor-shortage...
https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/11/13/trump-election-far... (includes a map)
https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/10/15/midwest-farmers-ta...
> America’s most farming-dependent counties overwhelmingly backed President-elect Donald Trump in this year’s election by an average of 77.7%.
> Some political observers questioned whether Trump’s support would wane among farmers after his first-term trade war, which led to increased prices and a drop in agricultural exports. During the campaign, Trump promised a return to high tariffs if given a second term.
> “His policies didn’t do us any good; his tariffs didn’t do us any good,” Lance Lillibridge, an Iowa farmer, told Investigate Midwest.
> Not only did Trump increase his support among farming-dependent counties, but more than 100 of those counties supported him with at least 80% of their vote.
You still don't understand what is happening?
Edit: With regards to replies, I understand and appreciate the perspective, but the discussion will only lead to the subthread being detached here. It's important, it's valid, but it also is unproductive discussing it here. Discuss it elsewhere with like minded people.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Elections will happen in the USA, but only if they give the right answer. Didn't you get the memo that there is massive fraud, that voter rolls have to be purged (and are already purged in some states), that gerrymandering is normal, and that this is war?
Do you think Kash Patel, Pam Bondi and Tulsi Gabbard are just there to do their job honestly and independently? That they are just firing people left and right (mostly left, and not enough right) just because of incompetence? Do you think the Jan 6th coupists were pardoned only by magnanimity, and the military honours ordered for Ashli Babbitt are just there because Trump has a bleeding heart?
It’s a curious study in the psychology of cognitive blind spots I suppose. Surely farmers in the course of their work understand the phenomenon of cause and effect. Why is it so difficult then to port that to the political sphere? This is a man, who regardless of one’s own position on the political spectrum, seems so grossly under-equipped - both in terms of education and disposition -to steer a large complex economy, that it beggars comprehension as to how these farmers could have made the decisions that most did.
Baffling.