Trump unveils $12B farm aid package amid China trade negotiations
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President Donald Trump is preparing to introduce a $12 billion agriculture aid package to support farmers, according to the White House.
The aid package will provide up to $11 billion in support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new Farmer Bridge Assistance Program, designed to provide a single payment to row crop farmers, with the remaining $1 billion going to farmers whose products do not qualify for the program.
More details will be released as the USDA continues to evaluate market conditions, according to the White House.
The president is expected to announce the new aid package at a roundtable meeting to be held at the White House on Monday. Those expected to attend the event include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, as well as corn, soybean, rice and other farmers.
Among those expected to attend the event are Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The announcement comes as the US and China face off in trade talks in 2025, with China reigning supreme on US soybean purchases amid ongoing tariff negotiations between Beijing and Washington DC.
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But Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea in October and the two reached a series of trade-related agreements. Specifically, Trump said he agreed to reduce tariffs on Chinese imports by 10 percent (from 57 percent to 47 percent) because China said it would cooperate with the United States in finding a solution to the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
After these talks, China started to increase its soybean purchases again. China purchased at least 840,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery in December and January, Reuters reported in November. According to Reuters, this purchase was the largest shipment since at least January of this year.
US President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Bessent said China had complied with the end of bargaining on the trade deal, including provisions to purchase 12 million tonnes of soybeans by the end of February 2026.
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“China is on track to fulfill every part of the agreement,” Bessent said Wednesday at The New York Times Dealbook Summit.
White House press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital on Monday that Trump was helping the agriculture sector by “negotiating new trade agreements to open new export markets to our farmers and strengthening the farm safety net for the first time in a decade.”
A combine harvester during soybean harvest at a farm in Harvard, Illinois, October 17, 2025. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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This isn’t the first aid package Trump has offered to farmers. When Trump’s first administration imposed tariffs, China imposed retaliatory tariffs of its own that cost the federal government billions of dollars in subsidies to farmers.
Bloomberg News first reported the aid package on Sunday.
