(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley says Iowa plants that produce soybean oil will benefit if President Trump follows through on a threat he made on social media last (Tuesday) night.

China hasn’t purchased any U-S soybeans since May and Trump says he may seek retribution by blocking U-S imports of Chinese cooking oil. Presidents have the power to regulate imports during national emergencies, but Grassley isn’t sure Trump has that authority in this case.

“I say this kind of tongue-in-cheek, but probably if the president didn’t have the authority he’d still try to use it and let the courts say he doesn’t have the authority,” Grassley said. Grassley says there are quite a few companies in other states that import used cooking oil to make biofuels — and China is already being investigated for what’s in the cooking oil it has been shipping to the U.S. “We had reports that there was virgin palm oil coming from Indonesia being mixed with used cooking oil,” Grassley said, “and under the inability to separate the two out when it’s imported into this country…whichever department is was said we just can’t tell the difference, so we’re going to call it all used cooking oil.”

There was a significant increase in Chinese cooking oil imports last year and Senator Joni Ernst has said the integrity of the Renewable Fuels Standard is being undermined if palm oil is being mixed into cooking oil imports. Environmentalists also have raised concerns as palm oil production is responsible for cutting down millions of trees.