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Could tarriffs deflate some food prices? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The u.s. produces a surplus of staples, especially corn and soybeans that are exported mostly to China. If China does retaliatory tarriffs won't that lower demand for those staples and thus the price in the US? And theoretically couldn't that also reduce the price of downstream animal products since feeding them will be cheaper?

This assumes:

Food companies don't use the excuse of tarriffs to raise prices even when there costs go down
The government doesn't step in to back stop corn demand and buy tonnes of it to keep prices high. I know they did this with dairy in the 70s and 80s, not sure if they still do it.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/04/farmers-tariffs-trump-trade-war-00271146

Prices for major crops like soybeans and corn have plummeted roughly 40 percent since 2022 — partly because Trump’s first trade war reshaped the global market for soybeans, with Brazil and Argentina emerging as major competitors to the U.S.

Farmers have been Trump’s most loyal constituency and overwhelmingly backed him in the 2024 election. Now they could be one of the groups hardest hit by his trade war, potentially forcing a political reckoning in red states as small- and mid-sized farms struggle to stay afloat and big farms lose their export markets.

Prices for the foods you buy aren't based on just the costs of soybeans, wheat, and corn ... in a globalized economy like ours it is complex and prices are increasing substantially for the foods we import. The U.S. imports more beef than they export, the cost of animal products are likely to increase.