American farmers have “lost all hope” for a satisfactory resolution to the US-China trade war, and are pushing their government to turn to new markets after the sudden escalation in tensions last week. US agricultural exporters such as soybean and pork producers have suffered major losses over the past year since Chinese tariffs were placed on their goods, and fear the protracted dispute will keep them out of the Chinese market for a long time to come. “If you asked me two weeks ago, I would have told you I was optimistic about a deal, but now I’ve just done a 180 and I’m not optimistic at all,” Lindsay Greiner, president of the Iowa Soybean Association, said.
