A private message surprised in the phone of a tall US official reveals the frustration of the White House, after the shot from China and Argentina of Milei

The US recently announced a vital financial support for Argentina. During this time, the Buenos Aires government took advantage of the commercial war between Washington and Beijing to sell millions of tons of China, to the detriment of American farmers, Fortune and CNN write.

A Trump administration member seems to have expressed his swallowing, in a private message, after China bought millions of Argentine soybeans, while American soy producers are boycotted by Beijing on the merits of the commercial war, writes Fortune.

Argentina managed this sale, which makes direct competition, at a time when it benefits from the strong support of Washington, who promised financial aid for Buenos Aires, faced with big problems.

The concern of the administration was revealed by a photo of the Treasury Secretary's phone, Scott Besent, successful by Associated Press, who surprised a text message from a contact called “Br”, which is supposed to be the American secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rollins.

The message referred to the X account of the cereal trader Ben Scholl, who was drawing an alarm about the indirect effects of the massive financial aid granted to Argentina on American farmers.

“Just a warning. I get more information, but it is very unpleasant. Yesterday I saved Argentina and, instead, the Argentinians eliminated the export fees for cereals, reducing their price for China at a time that we would normally sell to China,” says the message, surprised a week ago.

“Soybean prices continue to fall because of this. This gives China a greater negotiation power in relation to us,” the message shows.

The surprise offered by Argentina

Last week, Bessent presented on X a financial support plan for Argentina, following the discussions between President Donald Trump and the Argentine counterpart Javier Milei, a libertarian economist with a populist speech, similar to Trump's.

The treasury has arranged a support of $ 20 billion for the central bank of Argentina, as part of the efforts to infuse capital in the South American country.

The decision would have at least one direct political effect. The stabilization of Argentina before the intermediate elections in October would increase the chances of Milei to stay in power, analysts said.

It reduced the huge inflation in Argentina, while facing a currency crisis and several corruption scandals – but also with protests throughout the country that accused the social problems generated by austerity measures.

The surprise for Washington came when, in this context, China ordered millions of soybeans in the South American country-after the Buenos Aires government temporarily eliminated a fee on cereal exports.

The American producers, who should have been the ones who deliver the soy of Chinese importers during this period, were already the target of a Beijing boycott, against the background of Trump's commercial war.

The China-Argentina agreement worsened the situation.

“Frustration is overwhelming”

“Frustration is overwhelming,” said Caleb Ragland last week, president of the American Soybean Manufacturers Association (ASA), in a statement.

“The US soy prices are decreasing, the harvest is in full swing, and the farmers read titles that do not refer to the conclusion of a commercial agreement with China, but to the fact that the US government gives Argentina a economic support ($ 20 billion), while this country renounces export taxes, to sell 20 days,” it.

According to USDA data, China – which bought almost a quarter of US soy exports in 2024 – has not ordered the US soy of May. At the same time, Brazil's market share in China's soy imports increased to 71% last year, according to that.

The situation has shaken the American soy industry, worth $ 60.7 billion, and a solution for farmers does not meet yet, without a commercial agreement between the US and China, writes CNN.

Last week, asked if China will buy soy in the US, a Chinese Ministry official said Washingt should eliminate what China considers to be unreasonable commercial taxes and create conditions for bilateral trade.

“We want markets. We don't want financial aid”

China is the largest soy buyer in the US. In the commercial year 2023/24, the US exported almost 25 million tons of soy to China, while only 4.9 million tonnes of soy have left for the European Union, according to the data of the US Soy Producers Association.

American soy delivery to China had already dropped in recent years.

Prior to the 2018 commercial war, the US exported to average soy worth $ 12.8 billion to China each year.

During the commercial war, this value dropped to $ 4.7 billion in 2018/19 and then easily climbed to $ 5.8 billion in the 2019/20 commercial year.

Last week, at the White House, Trump suggested that his administration could temporarily redistribute some of the income obtained from the new customs duties to American farmers, to help them reduce the losses generated by the administration's commercial policies.

But the farmers asked for the restoration of commercial relations with China.

“We can cultivate anything. What we really want are good relationships with our commercial partners,” said Todd Main, the market development director at Illinois Soybean Association, for Fortune.

“We want markets. We don't want financial aid,” he said.

“The conclusion we can draw from the data from the last analysis is that the US lost about 20% of the market share and have never recovered it,” Main said.