Soybean farmers anxious, even with $12 billion in aid, and EU promises

Veteran farmer Ron Heck, who produces 100,000 bushels of soybeans a year on his family farm in central Iowa, likes President Trump's big-picture plans to negotiate a fair trade deal with China that would improve market access and lower export fees. And he hopes the U.S. tariffs on China will hasten that outcome. But Heck also fears that such a deal could exact a crippling cost from farmers like him. He has relied on China's sizable appetite for U.S. soybeans -- it's the biggest importer of soybeans in the world -- but the 68-year-old said now his crops are caught up in the ongoing trade dispute with Beijing."We're all upset. We're all losing money," Heck told CBS News. "We're raising a great crop and our biggest customer comes along and says we don't want to buy it."The tariffs, along with an extremely productive growing season this year have resulted in oversupply, as well as decreased demand."They have gone down by two dollars a bushel. It's a really, really big deal," Heck said.Mr. Trump seemed to announce a potential solution Thursday. "The European Union is going to start, almost immediately, to buy a lot of soybeans -- they're a tremendous market -- buy a lot of soybeans from our farmers in the Midwest, primarily," Mr. Trump said, as he stood next to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.