(ASA) Weeks of speculation have ended with new anxiety for growers of America’s leading agricultural export: President Trump announced Friday he is indeed levying a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese products under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. This decision not only inflames trade tensions between the two countries, but also means that U.S. soybean growers, who shipped roughly $14 billion in soybeans last year to China, their number one export market, stand to quickly feel the impact of retaliatory tariffs. Chinese government officials have announced that their response to Trump’s widespread trade tax on Chinese goods will be quick and certain, which is bad news for soybeans farmers. A study by Purdue University economists predicts that soybean exports to China could drop by as much as 65 percent if China imposes a retaliatory 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans. Davie Stephens, Kentucky soybean grower and Vice President of ASA, is among growers distraught over the newly-announced tariffs, and China’s possible retaliation. “Crop prices have dropped 40 percent in the last five years, and farm income is down 50 percent compared to 2013. As a soy grower, I depend on trade with China. China imports roughly 60 percent of total U.S. soybean exports, representing nearly 1 in 3 rows of harvested soybeans,” Stephens said. “This is a vital and robust market that soy growers have spent over 40 years building and, frankly, it’s not a market U.S. soybean farmers can afford to lose.”