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Could Iran replace China as US soybean market? Farmers aren’t buying Trump pitch
American growers sceptical, dismissing claims of a new Iranian market for their exports as unrealistic and misleading
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Khushboo Razdanin New DelhiPublished: 9:48pm, 22 Jun 2026Updated: 10:06am, 23 Jun 2026
Just hours after Vice-President J.D. Vance pitched a plan for Iran to spend unfrozen funds on US farm exports, Donald Trump insisted that American farmers were “very happy” with the proposal, saying he had received numerous calls of support.
But some farmers dismissed the plan as unrealistic and accused the US president of misleading growers ahead of the midterm elections.
Speaking ahead of his departure from the Swiss Burgenstock resort, where he led the US delegation for this weekend’s round of talks with Iran, Vance said on Monday that the arrangement would help feed the country’s population while making American farmers richer.Advertisement
Vance credited Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner with the idea, which he described as a “very, very good, and very classic Trump deal”.
The White House is seeking export markets outside China ahead of the November midterm elections as US farmers – a key constituency for the Republicans – continue to suffer the fallout from Trump’s tariff war with Beijing.
Vance added: “If Iranian assets are ever unfrozen, they’re going to go to make American farmers richer and to feed the Iranian people.” He said “we have approval over that process [of freeing the assets]”.
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