US farmers' $12 billion aid package is no fairytale story

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In the first season of the classic TV series, "Friends," one day Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) comes home all bummed out because all her old friends were either getting married or promoted, while she's “getting coffee” that was not even for her. Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) tries to cheer her up by reminding her of the story of "Jack and Beanstalk."

Jack gave up the cow, but he got the magic beans that grew into a giant tree bringing him all sorts of opportunities. But then Rachel raises an interesting question that makes the optimistic Phoebe all frustrated:

“What if we don’t get magic beans? What if all we got are BEANS?”

US farmers across Iowa and Illinois certainly don’t feel that they were given any magic beans when they received a 12-billion-US-dollar aid package from the White House. The packages are supposed to protect them from getting hurt financially by the trade war with China, but the damage is already underway.

Soybean tops US agricultural exports, 60 percent of which are sold to China. The prices of soybean have already fallen sharply after May when China-US trade tensions escalated.

Maybe the farmers could get some compensations from the direct payment from the aid package, but the market share in China’s market, once lost, is not easy to regain and the farmers have yet to find the substitute market that is as large as China.

In April, the American Soybean Association warned that currently Brazil is the main soybean supply country to China and it is improving its transportation system to cater to China’s market demand.

Trump promised to protect farmers’ interest when he was on his campaign trail in 2016 and farmers believed him and gave their votes. Trump may think that he is doing the best for his country by launching a trade war and offering a bailout plan, but has he come up with any long-term solutions and considered the unintended consequences of his actions?

(Top cartoons by Li Jingjie)