It might not avert a transatlantic trade war in the long term, but it will keep the bean counters in Brussels busy.

With all the gravity of a Soviet commissar, Jean-Claude Juncker announced on Wednesday that he had ordered a fortnightly count of the number of US soya beans imported into the EU.

The European commission president promised Donald Trump last week that beans would be bought in greater numbers if the US president held off on hitting the German car industry with punitive tariffs.

The humble soya bean, a cheap source of protein used in chicken, pig and cattle feed, as well as for milk production, has become vital, it would seem, to the smooth running of the transatlantic alliance.

Soya-bean farmers in the US midwest, a key Trump constituency under pressure from the administration’s trade war with China, will begin harvesting in September and October, weeks before the midterm elections. It might cause some EU diplomats indigestion, but the commission is giving Trump a helping electoral hand.



Juncker was able to offer a teaser too. In what has been billed as the “first concrete follow-up to the EU-US joint statement” made by the two leaders in the White House Rose Garden, impressive figures were unearthed.

There had already been a year-on-year increase of 283% in imports, bringing the EU’s total share of US soya bean exports to 37%, up from 9% a year ago, the commission said.

“The European Union can import more soya beans from the US and this is happening as we speak,” Juncker said. “This is a win-win situation for European and American citizens.”

A farmer harvests soya beans in Illinois. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Those of a sceptical nature might wonder quite how the EU was able to promise an increase in the purchase of soya beans, and then to produce such swift results, without going the full Soviet and buying them up.

The reality, EU officials admit behind the scenes, is that soya bean imports were on the rise anyway, and are expected to continue to rise, validating Juncker’s pledge.

European farmers are buying up soya beans from the US simply because they are currently the most competitive on the market because of the US-China trade war.

When Beijing imposed a 25% tariff on US soya bean imports, Brazil, the second-largest producer behind the US, moved in to sell to China.

US exporters have turned to Europe, where less competition meant prices went up, making it an attractive destination. Farms in the EU import 30bn tonnes of soya beans a year, because the European climate is not suitable for mass production.

The EU commissioner for agriculture, Phil Hogan, said: “The European Union and the United States have been longstanding partners and there is room to further strengthen our trade relationship.

“We expressed our willingness to import more soya beans from the United States and this is already happening. European and American farmers have much to gain by working together.”