Karoline Leavitt Roasted Over Blatantly False Claim on Trump’s Tariffs Impacting Farmers
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sparked a wave of condemnation on Tuesday by claiming China was not buying soybeans during the Biden administration as a way of defending President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which were the actual reason China stopped purchasing soybeans from American farmers this past May.
Leavitt made the blatantly false claim while on Newsmax, “Another huge win for our farmers. Following his successful meeting with President Xi Jinping in South Korea, President Trump convinced President Xi to continue purchasing, or begin purchasing again, American soybeans, which is something China wasn’t doing under the last administration because they had no respect for President Biden or for the country at the time.”
“But now they know President Trump is not messing around. He’s going to stand up for American farmers and American families. And so those purchases have begun from China, and American soybeans are being exported from the United States as we speak because of President Trump. He promised the farmers he would be there for them. He is delivering on that promise,” she added.
On Monday, Trump announced a $12 billion bailout for farmers impacted by the loss of access to foreign markets – something that also happened as a result of his trade wars during his first term. In September, Politico reported on the key background:
China has not purchased any U.S. soybeans since May, according to the American Soybean Association. Beijing has pivoted to suppliers in Brazil and Argentina — logging huge orders for Latin American beans and leaving U.S. farmers in the cold and panicking.
The dramatic shift echoes China’s response to the tariff war during Trump’s first term when the value of U.S. soybean exports plunged to $3.1 billion in 2018 from $14 billion in 2016.
Leavitt’s claim that China’s buying freeze had begun during the Biden administration was quickly called out by economists and journalists online, many of whom accused her of ham-fistedly trying to pass the blame.
Erica York of the Federal Tax Policy Foundation shared a graph showing the drop of Chinese soybean purchases during Trump’s two terms in office and added, “Which president presided over two major drops in U.S. soybean exports to China?”
Political Science Professor Branislav Slantchev replied, “It will surprise no one that reality is exactly the opposite of what Baghdad Barbie says. Trump has decimated the farmers — twice — so it remains a mystery why they keep voting for him.”
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