This week Donald Trump announced an $18 billion bailout of US farmers, saying that it wouldn’t have been possible without the revenue from his tariffs. It seemed to escape him that the $US12 billion aid package wouldn’t have been necessary if not for his tariffs.

“The tariffs are taking in, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we’re giving some up to farmers because they were mistreated by other countries, for maybe the right reasons, maybe wrong reasons,” he said, when announcing the package.

It was Trump’s tariffs on everyone, but most notably China, that largely shut US farmers out of key markets.Credit: AP

“This money would not be possible without the tariffs. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to help you,” he said, without a trace of any awareness of the reality that he is actually compensating them for some of financial hurt he and his beloved tariffs have inflicted on them.

It was Trump’s tariffs on everyone, but most notably China, that largely shut US farmers out of key markets.

Soybean farmers, in particular, who export about half of their production – about 60 per cent of which used to be sold to China before Trump’s first trade war in 2018 saw US exports largely displaced by Brazilian production – have seen their exports to that market plummet by 33 per cent compared with last year.

After Trump and Xi Jinping agreed a form of trade truce in late October, China did pledge to buy 12 million tonnes of soybeans this year and 25 million tonnes a year for the next three years but, so far – within sight of the end of the year – it has bought less than 3 million tonnes.

With a record harvest, but prices about half what they were before the 2018 trade hostilities, soybeans are........

© The Sydney Morning Herald