Also, soybeans are a fungible commodity. As China buys up non-American soybeans, American exports will (with effort) be redirected to the customers who were originally planning to buy non-American soybeans that the China bought. The tariffs will be more of a hiccup for American farmers.

On the other hand, most of China's exports aren't fungible commodities, so it will have more difficulty finding substitutes for the reduced demand caused by American tariffs.