August 6, 2019

China Suspends All Farm Imports From US

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Even after the various tariffs it put on soybeans and other farm products, China is still importing about $5 billion worth of US “food and animal products” annually, according to the Census Bureau. But now that’s ending:

The U.S. Farm Belt braced for deeper pain from the escalating trade battle between the world’s two biggest economies after China said it would suspend all imports of U.S. agricultural goods.

….China’s suspension of U.S. farm purchases is a “body blow” to U.S. farmers and ranchers, said Zippy Duvall, a Georgia farmer and head of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We urge negotiators to redouble their efforts to arrive at an agreement, and quickly,” he said.

China really does appear to be the party at fault for blowing up negotiations earlier this year. Nonetheless, it’s pretty obvious that they have no intention of giving in to President Trump’s demands, and they’ve dedicated themselves to causing him as much electoral pain as they can. This trade war is going to be neither short nor easy to win.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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