The $16 billion in aid to farmers that the Trump administration announced Friday is an increase on the $12 billion aid package last year. Administration officials said the total amount of aid was hiked and the formula for distributing it tweaked because of the broadening nature of President Trump’s trade war with China and other countries.

“We account[ed] for some other variables such as repeated distortionary trade policies by China and other countries that have contributed to the slow pace of market adjustment and trade that we’ve seen for agricultural production,” Agriculture Department chief economist Robert Johansson told agriculture industry reporters Thursday. “So that brings us to the $16 billion level.”