USDA to give $12 billion to farmers hurt by tariffs
Trade moves causing retaliation; critics call aid package welfare.
The U.S. AgriWASHINGTON — culture Department announced Tuesday a $12 billion package of emergency aid for farmers caught in the midst of the United States’ escalating trade war, the latest sign that growing tensions betweenthe U.S. and other countries will not end soon.
President Donald Trump ordered Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to prepare a range of options several months ago, amid complaints from farmers that their products faced retaliatory tariffs from China and other countries. The new package of government assistance funds announced Tuesday will go into effect in September.
The aid package will benefit soybean farmers, dairy farmers and pork producers, among others. White House officials hope it will temporarily quiet some of the unease from farm groups, but the new plan could revive debates about taxpayer-funded bailouts and the degree to which the U.S.
trade strategy is leading to unforeseen costs.
“As you know, President Trump has promised since day one that he had the back of every American farmer and rancher,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Tuesday. “Today this announcement is the fulfillment of that promise.”
Farm groups have complained that moves by China and other countries in response to Trump’s trade stance could cost them bil- lions of dollars, spooking Republicans who fear a polit- ical and economic blowback to Trump’s approach. China and Mexico have imposed tariffs on U.S.-produced pork this year in retaliation for the tariffs.
T he m oney wo u ld be extended just as voters in some of the most heavily impacted states are prepar- ing to cast votes in the midterm elections. There are several key Senate races in farm-dependent states like Missouri, North Dakota and Indiana this November, and the outcome of those races could determine who con- trols the chamber next year.
T he White House has searched for months for a way to provide emergency assistance to farmers without backing down on the trade agenda, and the new program will extend roughly $12 billion through three different mechanisms run by the Department of Agriculture. Officials said the assistance was calculated to match the estimated $11 billion of eco- nomic damage that retalia- tory tariffs will inflict on U.S. farmers.
The funds will c ome through direct assistance, a food purchase and distri- bution program, and a trade promotion program.
The first two of those programs will focus on farmers who have been squarely hit by Chinese tariffs: soybean, corn, wheat, cotton and sorghum growers will be eligi- ble for direct payments after this year’s harvest, as will dairy and pork producers. Separately, USDA will purchase surplus fruits, nuts, rice, beans, beef, pork and milk for distribution to food banks and other nutrition assistance programs.
“These programs are being deliberately put together in order to allow us to respond to unwarranted trade retali- ations,” said Jason Hafemeister, USDA’s Trade Counsel to the Secretary.
USDA officials stressed on Tuesday that the assistance package is a short-term measure, intended to keep farm- ers afloat this harvest season until what officials predicted would be a successful conclusion to trade negotiations.
There was bipartisan crit- icism from Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday of what the White House was trying to do. At least two Republicans said the plan equated to a type of welfare program for farmers.
“Our farmers have been in nonstop, saying they want trade, not aid, and now they’re being put on welfare,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “So the tariff policies that have been put in place by the administration are now causing them to invoke a welfare policy for our farmers which I’m sure is not what they wish. So pressure is continuing to build. We’re getting more and more complaints. I know the administration is also and hopefully soon this ill-thought out pol- icy will end.”
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., meanwhile, had equally harsh criti- cism about the Trump admin- istration’s new plan.
“If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers — the answer is remove the tariffs,” Paul wrote on Twitter.
Other Republicans backed the president. “Our president stood up to a bully, now he’s standing up for rural America,” said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, referring to Trump’s trade struggle with China. “This is the right fight to have but in the meantime our producers have got to ... live, while this fight’s going on.”
Several countries have responded to U.S. trade measures by imposing tariffs of their own, and farmers have complained that they are the victims of retaliation from other countries, which they rely on to sell their products.
China, for example, has announced it was imposing tariffs on imports of U.S. soybeans, diverting some of its consumption to Brazilian production. U.S. farmers complained they had become victims of the trade war, but earlier Tuesday, Trump showed no signs of backing down.
“Tariffs are the greatest!” he wrote on Twitter. “Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that — and everybody’s talking!”
Former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said the emergency aid for farmers would likely be considered Trump’s first taxpayer-funded bailout of private entities, an unusual occurrence during a strong economy.