U.S. announces $12 billion in aid for farmers
Move suggests Trump is plowing forward with agricultural tariffs
WASHINGTON— The Trump administration on Tuesday announced up to $12 billion (U.S.) in emergency relief for farmers hurt by the president’s trade war, moving to insulate food producers from looming financial losses that would be a direct result of President Donald Trump’s policies.
The aid to farmers, announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will come through a direct assistance program, one designed to help with food purchase and distribution and one spe- cifically geared toward promoting trade.
The move is an indication that Trump — ignoring the concerns of farmers, their representatives in Congress and even some of his own aides about the adverse consequences of a trade war he says he relishes — plans to plow forward in escalating his tariff tit-for-tat around the world.
“The actions today are a firm statement that other nations cannot bully our agricultural producers to force the United States to cave in,” Sonny Perdue, the secretary of agriculture, said during a call with reporters to unveil the program.
“This administration will not stand by while our hard-working agricultural producers bear the brunt of unfriendly and illegal tariffs.”
The approach could cost U.S. producers billions of dollars and potentially inflict political pain on Republicans in farm states who would be forced to answer for the president’s policies of a president who has shown little regard for the consequences of his trade agenda.
“Tariffs are the greatest!” Trump declared on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
“Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs,” Trump said. “It’s as simple as that — and everybody’s talking! Remember, we are the ‘piggy bank’ that’s being robbed. All will be Great!”
The European Union, Canada, Mexico, China and other countries have responded to Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum and $34 billion worth of Chinese products by imposing taxes of their own. They have often chosen to target farm country, the source of some of America’s biggest exports and an important political base for the president.
U.S. soybeans, pork, sugar, orange juice, cherries and other products now face tariffs in foreign markets that make their products less desirable.
Trump and his advisers have argued that while U.S. producers may feel short-term pain from his protectionist stance, ultimately they will benefit from it as other countries lower their barriers to U.S. products.
In the meantime, the administration has sought ways for the agriculture department to help farmers survive the pain of retaliation. As part of the program announced on Tuesday, the department will draw on the financial resources of a program known as the Commodity Credit Corp., which helps shore up U.S. farmers by buying their crops. The initiative, which does not authorize any new money and thus does not need approval from Congress, was a way for Trump to tamp down criticism of his trade policies. But it was also an unmistakable signal that the president has no plans to lift his tariffs any time soon, as Farm Belt senators have pleaded.
The plan, first reported by The Washington Post, was met with swift condemnation from Re- publicans and trade groups, who said that Trump had devised an expensive and clunky solution to a crisis of Depression-era proportions.
“This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches,” said Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse. “This administration’s tariffs and bailouts aren’t going to make America great again, they’re just going to make it 1929 again.”
One trade group leader said farmers need contracts, not aid, for stability. “The best relief for the president’s trade war would be ending the trade war,” said Brian Kuehl, director of the trade group Farmers for Free Trade.