(Radio Iowa) – President Trump says the federal government will make payments to soybean farmers who are taking a financial hit due to China’s stance in the trade war. China — the world’s largest buyer of soybeans — has turned to other countries for its soybean supply.

“We’re going to take some of that tariff money that’s we’ve made, we’re going to give it to our farmers who are for a little while going to be hurt until…the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” Trump said recently, “so we’re going to make sure that our farmers are in great shape because we’re taking in a lot of money.” Trump has not indicated when the payments will start or how big they’ll be.

“We’re going to be taking some money from all of the tariff money that we’ve taking and we’re going to be distributing it to our farmers until the tariffs kick in to their benefit, which ultimately the farmers are going to be making a fortune,” Trump said, “but it’s a process.”

Trump — in a post on social media yesterday (Wednesday) — said he will be meeting with China’s president in four weeks and soybeans will be a major topic of discussion. Last year, a little over half U.S. soybean exports went to China, but China hasn’t purchased U.S. soybeans for the past four months.