COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio farmers were hit hard in 2025 by the Trump administration’s trade war with China, with agricultural exports falling 74% compared with the same period the previous year.
The decline amounts to a $76 million loss for Ohio farmers, according to a Farm Flavor analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture trade data from January through August.
“Trade disputes have created significant pressure for Ohio farm families, especially for the many operating on razor-thin margins,” Ohio Farm Bureau senior policy director Brad Bales said.
In November, the Trump administration announced a trade deal with China that reopened its markets to U.S. soybeans after months of stalled exports.
But the deal does not fully make up what was lost.
U.S. soybean exports to China were expected to end 2025 33% below 2024 levels, according to researchers at Purdue University.
Soybean prices also fell while costs went up.
“Fertilizers are dramatically more expensive this year than they were last year,” said Joe Logan, a fifth-generation farmer in Trumbull County and a former president of the Ohio Farmers Union, in a December interview. “We really took a hit … as a result of the tariffs.”
In December, the Trump administration announced a $12 billion aid package to ease the financial strain on farmers facing lower prices and lost export sales.
“While the bridge payments are an important economic lifeline in the short term for farm families, we still need long-term solutions to help stabilize the farm economy, keep markets competitive and ensure farms remain in business,” Bales said in a statement.
Beyond prices and aid payments, Logan said, Ohio farmers worry about the long-term damage to trade relationships.
He spent decades building relationships with buyers in China — relationships that were built on reliability and consistency.
“All of a sudden, that has totally vaporized,” Logan said. “There’s this perception now that the United States has forfeited its position as a reliable supplier of agricultural commodities.”
The Trump administration has placed blame for the export declines on the Biden administration.
In a December statement, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said President Joe Biden left the farm economy weakened by runaway inflation and delayed disaster aid.
“The lack of new trade deals under the last Administration turned a trade surplus under Trump into a $50 billion trade deficit, causing our farmers to lose markets and feel acute pain from lower commodity prices,” Rollins said.
Democrats say China cut its soybean purchases in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
China imported $24 billion in U.S. agricultural products in 2024, Biden’s last full year in office, making it the country’s largest agricultural trade partner outside North America.
But those numbers dropped by 54% from January through August 2025, a year-over-year loss of $7.4 billion.
During Trump’s first term in office, retaliatory tariffs led to more than $27 billion in U.S. agricultural export losses, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
National Democrats have also pointed to the trade fallout as a political opening ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
In October, the Democratic National Committee released an ad featuring an Illinois soybean farmer describing the financial strain farmers have faced during the trade war.
The ad, which has aired in Ohio and Michigan, argued that Trump’s economic policies hurt rural communities and farm incomes.
“Frankly, I talk with farmers pretty frequently, and they have been wholeheartedly supportive of Trump generally,” Logan said. “Now, we are beginning to see that soften.”
Final USDA figures for Ohio’s 2025 exports are still being calculated, but farm groups say the need for stable trade relationships remains urgent.
“We will continue to call on our leaders for new and stronger trade deals that will help offset the trade deficit and ensure Ohio farmers are competitive in global markets,” Bales said.