U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, sent a letter last week to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asking him to reconsider President Donald Trump‘s tariff policies and the $40 billion foreign bailout for Argentina.
The letter, which was signed by an additional 20 Democratic Senators, including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, noted that after the Trump administration agreed to the initial $20 billion currency swap line to Argentina, the South American country sent “20 shiploads of soybeans” to China, which had halted purchases of all U.S. soybeans, devastating American soybean farmers.
The letter complained that the Trump administration “has once again prioritized a foreign nation over the needs of American farmers and rural communities.”
Well top of the morning to you Mr. Treasury Secretary! I hope you’ve had some sleep since sending the attached. At first I thought to myself wow, this must be a fake account given your really important job and all. But no, it’s really you. DOUBLE WOW! Since you and I have had no… https://t.co/6ZEiG9JssL pic.twitter.com/igSJv0KX9n
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) October 30, 2025
Bessent responded dismissively to both Klobuchar and Warren on X: “You are failures. You failed to derail the electoral success of one of our great allies in Latin America, President @JMilei,” and shared a photo of Trump in Asia “showing what successful American leadership looks like.”
Bessent added that Trump’s meeting with China’s President Xi “will be a resounding victory for our great farmers. While I know it will be soul-crushing for you, please re-focus your staff away from writing incoherent letters to myself and others, and instead work towards opening the government.”
Klobuchar replied to Bessent’s post: “At first I thought to myself wow, this must be a fake account given your really important job and all. But no, it’s really you. DOUBLE WOW! Since you and I have had no public or private personal ‘BEEFS’ (Argentinian or otherwise), maybe it is just your jet lag from all the overseas travel.”
Klobuchar added: “And while your announcement today reversing just part of your own administration’s bad policies is always helpful, there is just so much left to undo before these across-the-board tariffs upend the economy in rural America forever, not to mention becoming a huge burden in the form of the tariff tax on all Americans. In any case let me know when you are ready to meet to discuss tariffs over some 40% more expensive coffee.”
[Note: Trump’s meeting with Xi did yield a promise to restart of the soybean trade between China and the U.S., though as AP reports: “The Chinese promise to buy at least 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for next three years will bring their purchases back in line with where they were before President Donald Trump launched his trade war with China in the spring. But the 12 million metric tons that China plans to buy between now and January is only about half the typical annual volume.”]
Today at a Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Warren questioned Dr. Julie Callahan, Trump’s nominee to be Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), who would not identify Argentina by name as the South American country that has sold soybeans to China. Instead she said, “China’s weaponization of agriculture has absolutely harmed U.S. soybean farmers.”
When Warren pressed Callahan, “Who’s China buying soybeans from now? What’s the name of that country? What is the name of the country that China is buying soybeans from now?” Callahan replied: “China is purchasing Latin American soybeans.”
Warren said: “If you can’t answer that question I don’t see how you can represent American soybean farmers.”
WOW: Sen. Warren
TORE into Trump’s trade rep for refusing to admit China’s buying ARGENTINEAN soybeans to bypass Trump’s tariffs.Trump flew to China to fix his OWN MESS – and his deal isn’t better than what we had BEFORE his tariffs. What a crock.
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) October 30, 2025