Wait and see what China does. That's what the head of one US farmers association said, after US President Donald Trump announced he would put tariffs on imports of foreign steel and aluminum to protect the US steel industry.

And the farmers who John Heisdorffer represents – soybean growers – may have the most to lose if China retaliates against the US agriculture sector.

"Every soybean farmer knows what China means for our demand. We send more beans to China than to the rest of the world combined," said Heisdorffer, president of the American Soybean Association. "That relationship demands a light and diplomatic touch."

The US sold 62 percent of its soybean exports to China in 2016, worth more than $14 billion, according to the Soybean Association.

While disappointed by the tariffs, Heisdorffer told farmers to stay calm and not over-react.

"China may do nothing," he added. "We need to wait until something actually happens."

Trump said on March 1 that the US will impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum this week, that it would apply to all countries and "for a long period of time".

The day after Trump announced the tariffs, a Chinese Commerce Ministry official responded.

"If the final measures of the United States hurt Chinese interests, China will work with other affected countries in taking measures to safeguard its own rights and interests," Wang Hejun, head of the Commerce Ministry ministry's trade remedy and investigation bureau, said in a statement on the ministry's website.

Besides the US soybean association, Trump's tariffs announcement also irked representatives of US wheat growers and the head of the US Senate agriculture committee, a Republican like Trump.

"We have repeatedly warned that the risks of retaliation and the precedent set by such a policy have serious potential consequences for agriculture," said US Wheat Associates (USW), which markets wheat in foreign markets, and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), which represents growers, in a joint statement.

The wheat farmers associations said that they could sympathize with steel and aluminum workers affected by imports of the two metals, but also said: "It is dismaying that the voices of farmers and many other industries were ignored in favor of an industry that is already among the most protected in the country."

Heisdorffer said "at this point, (Trump) has put industry ahead of agriculture, and agriculture is who put him in office."

Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, said: "Every time you do this, you get a retaliation, and agriculture is the number one target. I think this is terribly counterproductive for the agriculture economy."

aaronhagstrom@chinadailyusa.com