Trump threatens China Cooking Oil as payback for Soy Boycott

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said his administration is considering “terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil” in retaliation for Beijing refusing to buy U.S. soybeans.

1news.media reports, citing CNBC, China is committing an “Economically Hostile Act” by “purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Ending business with China on cooking oil and “other elements of Trade” are possible forms of “retribution” that Trump said he was weighing.

“As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China,” he wrote.

China has been the top buyer of U.S. soybeans by far, importing some 27 million metric tons valued at nearly $12.8 billion in 2024 alone.

But amid a simmering trade war with the Trump administration, Beijing has not bought a single American soybean since May.

With retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods making soybeans pricier for Chinese importers, China has been sourcing the crop instead from producers in South America.