Topline
A photo taken of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s texts last week suggested growing concern around the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion financial aid package to Argentina — which then turned around and made an advantageous soybean deal with China.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent checks a text message regarding Argentina relations with the U.S. during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Key Facts
The photo of Bessent’s phone taken by the Associated Press during a United Nations session last week appears to show texts from Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who said, “We bailed out Argentina yesterday (Bessent) and in return, the Argentine’s removed their export tariffs on grains, reducing their price, and sold a bunch of soybeans to China, at a time when we would normally be selling to China.”
The messages referenced the $20 billion aid package by the Trump administration designed to help Argentina and its president, Javier Milei, a Trump ally.
After the announcement of the aid, Argentina turned around and sold soybeans to China — while American farmers who have traditionally relied on Beijing to buy soybeans have been frozen out of their largest export market since Trump enacted higher tariffs on China, which launched its own retaliatory tariffs impacting soybean trade with the U.S.
The texts continued, saying, “This gives China more leverage on us” and sending a link to the X account of Ben Scholl, a specialty grain trader who chimed in on China’s purchase of Argentinian soybeans after the latter country removed grain export taxes.
Scholl said in a tweet last week “China and Argentina work together for soybeans as Bessent offers to subsidize the Argentine economy. They think you are stupid.”
Forbes has reached out to Bessent and Rollins’ offices for comment.
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Chief Critic
“Why would USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market???” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a tweet last week. “We shld use leverage at every turn to help hurting farm economy Family farmers shld be top of mind in negotiations by representatives of USA(sic).” Grassley added in a separate tweet that farmers are “very upset” about Argentina “selling soybeans to China right after USA bail out.”
Big Number
$12.6 billion. That is how much money worth of soybeans China bought from the U.S. last year, cementing the good as “the single largest American export to China in terms of value,” according to The New York Times, which noted China has not bought soybeans from the U.S. since May due to retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. that marked up the price of American soybeans for buyers in China.
Key Background
Bessent pledged the $20 billion bailout for Argentina alongside President Donald Trump last week, with the treasury secretary saying the funds will be used to alleviate economic turmoil ahead of Argentina’s midterm elections in October. The midterms will be crucial for Milei as he looks to increase his party’s presence in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, potentially increasing his ability to pass legislation. Argentina, which recently removed its export taxes on grains and other goods in an attempt to boost sales and help its economy, sold 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China “almost immediately after” Bessent announced the $20 billion bailout negotiations, according to the American Soybean Association. The association has called on the Trump administration to secure a soybean deal with China, adding the nonsale of U.S. soybeans to China “has allowed other exporters, Brazil and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of U.S. farmers.”
Further Reading
China Bought $12.6 Billion in U.S. Soybeans Last Year. Now, It’s $0. (Forbes)