Trump threatens China with cooking oil embargo over soybean snub
Source: CNBC
Published Tue, Oct 14 2025 3:54 PM EDT Updated 4 Min Ago
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.
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 dont 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.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/14/trump-china-soybean-cooking-oil.html
It's exhausting dealing with an insane man and the lunatics that prop him up. Meanwhile we're the laughing stock of the world.
Article updated.
Previous article -
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.
Trump said he believes China is committing an "Economically Hostile Act" by "purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers."
Ending business with China on cooking oil and "other elements of Trade" are possible forms of "retribution" Trump is weighing, he said in a Truth Social post. "As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don't need to purchase it from China," he wrote.
The president's latest criticism follows a recent spate of critical remarks he has made about China, raising questions about the status of ongoing trade talks and sending stocks careening up and down.
Original article -
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.
Trump said he believes China is committing an "Economically Hostile Act" by "purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers."
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get the red out
(13,863 posts)Be careful what you wish for Drump.
BidenRocks
(2,389 posts)zorbasd
(486 posts)growers, but also electing to destroy the corn commodity growers as well....this fascist regime is effing clueless, and utterly stupid...cut your nose off to spite your face stupidity....just do it morons, so the other morons can vote you in again.
Torchlight
(5,894 posts)Indonesia and Malaysia's palm oils industries may get the next big payouts from trump's troubled tariff tangle... all done at the expense of working Americans.
Warpy
(114,047 posts)instead of that nasty ass canola oil that makes me sick as hell and which seems to be shoved into everything these days because it's cheap.
The only other oil my local market had a few months ago was peanut and I've been using the stuff very sparingly. Olive oil is great when I want that olive flavor. Canola oil = death.
Cheaper soybean oil might drive canola oil out of things like peanut butter and I would be deeply grateful for that.
BumRushDaShow
(161,808 posts)there are adulterated vegetable oils labeled as "Corn Oil" or "Peanut Oil" or even (any grade of) "Olive Oil", that are actually blended with soy oil. Lots of fraud out there.
Warpy
(114,047 posts)and I read somewhere that the fancier the bottle and more twee the label, the greater the chances it's at least 50% something else with food coloring. The same article cited the big producers as having the highest proportion of actual olive oil, other oils added only to produce a consistent flavor profile for the brand. I usually stick to Bertolli, I like their flavor profile.
The other scam is "extra virgin" or "extra extra virgin." It's all the same pressing, rollers extracting most of the oil in one go. The lees, those dry bits that are what's left of the olives, then go through a chemical extraction process that produces that pale yellow, nearly tasteless "olive oil" that people who want to eat a Mediterranean diet but hate the taste of olive oil use. It's not very good for you, so avoid it. Learn to like olive oil or use a different oil.
I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find out my peanut oil has palm, soybean, sunflower, or another oil in it. It's not making me sick, so it's not canola, and that's all I care about right now.
and especially with the Olive oils and what is required for composition & labeling of "Extra Virgin" versus "Virgin" (first, second, third press, etc) and how some gets blended/diluted with what is basically called "lamp oil" (lampante), which is inedible. Some will try to avoid adding food color and will put actual chlorophyll in it to give it a greener hue to mimic EV olive oil and not trigger artificial color suspicion.
DinahMoeHum
(23,212 posts)Preferably California.
Read the labels, folks.
BumRushDaShow
(161,808 posts)and they have a bunch of varieties!
Bernardo de La Paz
(59,624 posts)The peanut butter I buy is 100% peanuts (no salt, no sugar, nothing added). It sits on the shelf with a layer of peanut oil on the top.
I can't imagine any need to add canola oil to peanut butter. Can you post a link with an ingredients list or pic of the brand specific?
Warpy
(114,047 posts)which doesn't happen all that often.
Big commercial companies use extra oil to get the grinding process started and to make the final product smoother and more consistent. I honestly don't mind that part of the process as long as they don't use nasty canola oil.
Bernardo de La Paz
(59,624 posts)progressoid
(52,164 posts)She has to check every label for coconut products. And there are a LOT of food and skin care products that use coconut.
Regarding canola oil, I saw this study via DU a while ago that surprised me.
...
Conclusion: CO significantly improved different cardiometabolic risk factors compared to other edible oils. Further well-designed clinical trials are warranted to confirm the dose-response associations.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33127255/
Considering that olive oil is touted as the best of everything, this kind of surprised me.
ProudMNDemocrat
(20,334 posts)You and your stupid trade war with China is to blame!
Will this orange man-child ever face the facts of his actions? NO!!! It's somebody's else's fault that he is such a fuckup!
JoseBalow
(8,722 posts)Another version of gutter oil uses discarded animal parts, animal fat and skins, internal organs, and expired or otherwise low-quality meat, which is then cooked in large vats to extract the oil.
-Gutter Oil

Bernardo de La Paz
(59,624 posts)JoseBalow
(8,722 posts)Not to mention the lead and other toxins in their products. I really prefer to avoid anything from there, to be honest.
paleotn
(21,031 posts)lonely bird
(2,581 posts)But Sam an Ella are interested.
🤪😁
nilram
(3,388 posts)What a whack job
sinkingfeeling
(56,571 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(59,624 posts)Article did not provide a dollar amount for the trade.
I found this: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/used-cooking-oil-market-report
The U.S. held the largest revenue share of the regional industry in 2024.
Based on application, biodiesel production segment dominated the market with largest revenue share of 50.0% in 2024.
Under The Radar
(3,427 posts)was just checking Perplexity and there are not any substantial sales of cooking oil from China other than used cooking oil. I doubt that they will feel threatened by this.
twodogsbarking
(16,225 posts)It would be a smart business decision though so Trump is incapable of such a concept. He would rather he succeeds and you fail than both of you to succeed. Weird but not highly unusual.
ananda
(33,625 posts)Anyone ever heard of soy bean oil?
moonshinegnomie
(3,712 posts)canada grows a lot of canola oil
south americia can easily make soybean oil.
its not hard for china to find a replacement
paleotn
(21,031 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(129,832 posts)Idiot
paleotn
(21,031 posts)Soybeans are global commodities. Lots of other folks have gladly taken US market share and left US farmers out in the cold. They may never recover that market in our lifetimes. As for cooking oil, that's peanuts. Used "peanuts" to be exact. And no real harm to either economy. The loss of tens of billions in US ag exports from now until who knows when IS a problem.
Prairie Gates
(6,516 posts)Too bad.
hunter
(40,079 posts)In Trump's mind this is a two-four-one -- he gets to poke China and U.S.A. "Liberals."
ReRe
(12,088 posts)Stupid can't keep up with his tariffs! Or maybe it's me that can't keep up? China went to Argentina for soy beans because Stupid put a 100% tariff on China. So this left our farmers with soybeans without a buyer. Then, Stupid bails out the Argentinian dictator's economy to the tune of $20 billion, instead of bailing out his own US farmers? Now Stupid wants to embargo (corn?) cooking oil from China?
Can anyone make any sense out of what Stupid is doing? I have a headache!
Angleae
(4,766 posts)
Initech
(106,554 posts)
Skittles
(168,151 posts)WHAT KIND OF FUCKING ALTERNATE WORLD IS THIS
lonely bird
(2,581 posts)Nobody has to buy anything from us. Unless there is some product or commodity that we have that no one else does no other country must buy from us.