Finance Minister Scott Bessent says China has damaged his soybean farms

Treasury secretary Scott Bessett said Sunday that he also “felt pain” from China refuses to buy US grown soybeans during a trade conflict with the president Donald Trump because “I’m actually a soybean farmer.”

Bessent’s comment came during an interview with ABC News’ This Week, where he said trade talks with China over the past two days had led to a “substantial framework” that he said would ease American soybeans farmers’ concerns about the boycott.

Trump is scheduled to meet later this week with the Chinese president Xi Jinping in South Korea.

Besent, ex hedge fund manager whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be about $600 million, was asked about the soybean boycotts on “This Week” anchor Martha Raddatz, who noted that “American farmers have really suffered.”

In 2023 and 2024, China bought more than half of the soybeans grown in the U.S., amounting to nearly $12.8 billion in 2024.

But after Trump ignited a trade war with Beijing earlier this year, China stopped buying soybeans.

“Do you see any real light at the end of the tunnel there, they might allow soybeans again?” Radets asked.

Bessent replied, “Martha, in case you don’t know, I’m actually a soybean farmer, so I’ve been through this pain.”

of Bessent government financial disclosure shows he owns soybean and corn farmland in North Dakota estimated to be worth between $5 million and $25 million.

In that disclosure, Bessent said the farmland generates between $100,000 and $1 million in rental income for him annually.

The finance minister told Raddatz on Sunday: “I think we’ve addressed the farmers’ concerns, and I’m not going to get ahead of the president, but I believe that when the announcement of the deal with China is made public, our soybean growers will feel very good about what’s going on both this season and the seasons to come for several years.”