Donald Trump and his followers have a shaky relationship with the truth to put it lightly. It is well known that the current administration often peddles fake news and factually incorrect information and White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt is one of the most prolific peddlers of falsehoods working in the government today.
From claiming that Trump’s tariffs were a tax cut for Americans to claiming that $50m in taxpayer dollars were funding condoms being sent to Gaza, Leavitt has shown that she is happy to spread ridiculous lies time and time again. In this case the White House spokesperson claimed that China did not buy soybeans under the Biden administration.
The statement was in response to the fact that Trump’s tariffs had negatively impacted the sale of soybeans. Leavitt argued that China hadn’t been purchasing soybeans during Biden’s administration, a statement which is demonstrably false, and she also credited Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping in convincing China’s leader to resume purchasing.
“President Trump convinced President Xi to continue purchasing, or continue purchasing again, American soybeans, which is something China wasn’t doing under the last administration.” The problem with her statement is that it’s easily proven false.
Karoline Leavitt is called out on her lies
China has long been the largest importer of soybeans as per Newsweek and so many American farmers depend on this export to make enough money to survive. Of course, with the tariffs introduced earlier this year, many have been struggling as China stopped purchasing from the U.S.
Before the Trump administration China had consistently bought soybeans from the U.S. According to Newsweek roughly 29 million tons were exported to China between 2020 and 2024. With Trump’s new deal those exports are set to start again with China pledging to buy 12 million tons by January.
All of this information is readily available online and yet Leavitt still tried to pull the wool over people’s eyes and lie about the numbers. We can clearly see that exports of soybeans during the Biden administration were not zero as she claims.
“Do these people not understand that there are actual statistics that prove they are lying?” Asked one person on X. “It’s unfortunate, this poor woman really believes the words that she is saying.” Added another.
The fact is people aren’t buying Leavitt and Trump’s lies, least of all the farmers who have been directly and negatively affected by the tariffs. On Monday Trump announced that there would also be a $12 billion bailout for farmers due to the lost revenue from foreign markets. Clearly the tariff plan has failed, as we all knew it would, and the administration is doing its best to gaslight people into thinking it hasn’t.
Published: Dec 10, 2025 02:15 pm