Farmers brace for impact as Trump plans to move forward with new tariffs
Farmers across the country are preparing for economic pain after President Donald Trump announced plans to implement new tariffs starting next week.
Farmers across the country are preparing for economic pain after President Donald Trump announced plans to implement new tariffs starting next week.
Farmers across the country are preparing for economic pain after President Donald Trump announced plans to implement new tariffs starting next week.
Farmers across the country are preparing for economic pain after President Donald Trump announced plans to implement new tariffs next week.
In a , Trump said 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico would take effect on March 4 after the policy was suspended for 30 days. He said 10% tariffs currently imposed on Chinese goods would double on the same date.
The targeted countries represent the United States’ top three agricultural markets by value, according to the American Farm Bureau. AFBF says, just last year, the U.S. exported over $30 billion in agricultural products to Mexico, $29 billion to Canada and $26 billion to China.
The industry is already emerging as a main target of retaliation. China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural machinery, such as tractors. Canada plans to target a range of American products, from vegetables to beef to dairy, if the Trump administration moves forward with its plans.
The looming trade war is accelerating uncertainty for farmers, who are already up against significant economic headwinds.
“We're losing the backbone of our rural economy, and it's very dangerous,” said Sarah Lloyd, a former Wisconsin dairy farmer who was forced to sell her cows last spring. “I think that any uncertainty is just going to cause more people to say, you know what? We're going to get out now before we go off the cliff.”
Lloyd is among dozens of farmers with the National Family Farm Coalition who spoke to members of Congress on Capitol Hill about those market challenges this week.
"I just don't think we need to pick on so many countries because there's a lot of them that do use our products,” said Travis Anderson, a small grains farmer and cattle rancher from North Dakota.
Still, Anderson said he largely supports Trump. During Trump’s first term, Anderson said federal payments to offset losses from tariffs were a critical lifeline.
“I'm not saying that it cured anything or made it better, but for that certain period, it did get us by,” Anderson said.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in an interview Thursday that she has spoken to Trump “quite a bit” about concerns from the farming community. She said they're looking at additional economic relief to make sure those impacted by tariffs are made whole.
“We are building that up again,” Rollins said.
Long term, Rollins argues tariffs will level the playing field in global trade.
“I’m hopeful that ultimately and believe ultimately that the tariffs discussion will end with our farmers and ranchers being more prosperous than ever before as we look inward and as we hold other countries accountable to ensure that our agricultural products are able to be traded at the same level,” Rollins said.
Iowa farmer Patti Naylor says reform is needed to achieve fairer prices for farmers, both domestically and internationally, but she thinks the president’s approach is overly broad.
“Stop what you're doing. What you're doing right now is just taking a hatchet to everything without really thinking about it. We need real discussions about what kind of changes we need in our agriculture,” Naylor said.