WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is considering payments of $2 per bushel for soybeans, 63 cents per bushel for wheat and 4 cents per bushel for corn as part of a package of up to $20 billion to offset farmers' losses from the trade war with China, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work on a new aid plan for U.S farmers, as Washington and Beijing intensified their 10-month trade war by raising tariffs on each other's goods.
Negotiations between the United States and China have soured dramatically since early May, when Chinese officials sought major changes to the text of a proposed deal that the Trump administration says had been largely agreed.
The dispute between the world's two largest economies has cost billions, roiled global supply chains and rattled financial markets. American farmers, who helped carry Trump to his surprise 2016 election win, have been among the hardest hit.
The USDA in 2018 pledged up to $12 billion in aid to farmers to help offset their crop losses, and has to date allocated a total of around $9.4 billion, with $8.52 billion of that as direct payments to farmers.
The administration last year paid $1.65 per bushel for soybeans, 14 cents per bushel for wheat and 1 cent per bushel for corn.