US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—a large landowner and former hedge fund manager worth north of half a billion dollars—faced widespread derision Sunday after claiming that he's a soybean farmer who, like actual farmers, is suffering from President Donald Trump's tariff war.
Asked by ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz about the apparent contradiction between Trump's claim to care about American farmers and the pain inflicted upon them by his trade war—especially with China, which is boycotting US agricultural exports—Bessent said: "Well, Martha, I'm actually a soybean farmer. So... I have felt this pain, too."
Bessent then tried to blame China for slashing US soybean imports and "using American farmers, who are amongst President Trump's biggest supporters."
The treasury secretary also mentioned the double whammy of tariffs and this season's bumper soybean crop, which he said have created a "perfect storm."
After Trump slapped 30% tariffs on Chinese imports in May, Beijing retaliated with measures including stopping all purchases of US soybeans. Before the trade war, a quarter of the soybeans—the nation’s number one export crop—produced in the United States were exported to China. Trump’s tariffs mean American soybean growers can’t compete with countries like Brazil, the world’s leading producer and exporter of the staple crop and itself the target of a 50% US tariff.
Critics swiftly pounced on Bessent's comments, with one actual farmer pointing out on X that the centimillionaire "owns up to $25 million worth of corn and soybean farmland... and earns as much as $1 million a year in rental income from the land."
Some social media users sardonically shared an artificial intelligence-generated image of Bessent standing in a field wearing overalls. Others posted a photo of John Ravenel House, the historic Charleston mansion he sold earlier this year for $18.5 million plus $3 million for furniture and fixtures—reportedly the highest price ever in the South Carolina city.
Spencer Ross, an associate professor at the Lowell Manning School of Business at the University of Massachusetts, noted that Bessent "promised—and failed—to divest his "$25 million of rent-seeking soybean property."
"I cannot imagine another farmer considering [Bessent's investments] actively being a 'farmer,'" Ross added before referencing the last president who actually grew crops. "I'm fairly certain Jimmy Carter wouldn't."
Author and activist Tim Wise quipped on social media: "Only a right-wing elitist would think that owning a bunch of farmland makes you a farmer. No, farming makes you a farmer, Scott. You’re an investor and landowner."
