Bad agricultural trade policies predate Trump

The Trump administration’s trade policies have wreaked havoc on fragile market access for America’s farmers and ranchers. The president has withdrawn the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have clawed open notoriously closed Asian agricultural markets; he has threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, which provides enormous market access for U.S. producers; and he has waged an aggressive trade war on a number of countries, triggering predictable retaliation against American farm exports.

While President Trump’s trade policies have been problematic, the system he inherited is rife with trade-distorting subsidies and other forms of protectionism.