President Trump has promised as much as $15 billion in aid to the agricultural industry to make up for China’s retaliatory tariffs, but farm trade associations say they don’t know yet how the assistance would work.
“There is a lot of speculation about what form it might take and how much it might be, but it does sound like it is on a faster track than the first package was,” said Mace Thorton, spokesman for the American Farm Bureau Federation, the leading agricultural trade association. “That’s about all we know at this point.”
The administration’s trade war with China escalated last week in a way that is likely to hit farmers after China allegedly backed away from promises it had made in previous negotiations. The White House raised tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25%, up from 10% in most cases, vowing to put 25% tariffs on a further $300 billion of goods. Beijing responded on Monday by saying it would place tariffs of up to 25% on $60 billion in U.S. goods, mostly agricultural ones like peanuts, sugar, wheat, chicken, and turkey.
Even before China announced the tariffs, the administration was trying to reassure farmers that they be protected. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tweeted on Friday that President Trump was “steadfast in his support for U.S. farmers and directed @USDA to work on a plan quickly” adding that he “loves his farmers and will not let them down!”
Trump told reporters Monday said that the aid would equal “the biggest purchase that China has ever made with our farmers, which is about $15 billion, and [we’ll] do something reciprocal to our farmers so our farmers can do well.”
Whatever the White House is planning to do is still at the very early stages, according to industry sources. An official at one top D.C.-based agricultural trade association said they had had no contact with the administration. “We unfortunately do not know anything yet. We only know what Perdue and others have said publicly thus far,” said the individual.
The Trump administration has previously provided aid to farmers to cover the impacts of retaliatory tariffs, announcing last year that it provide as much as $12 billion to the industry. Perdue told the Senate Agriculture Committee in February that “To date, [assistance] programs have provided more than $8 billion to assist with the disruption in commodity markets caused by unfair tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.” The aid was provided through the Agriculture Department’s Commodity Credit Corporation, which provides price supports for farmers.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., told reporters Tuesday that he was disturbed by the prospect that the Trump administration was going to increase “handouts” to farmers. “The term [handout] is meant to be pejorative because it is a very bad policy,” he said. “Think about what we are doing: We are inviting this retaliation that denies our farmers, the most productive farmers on the planet, the opportunity to sell their policies overseas. Then we say, ‘But, don’t worry: We’ll have taxpayers send you some checks and make it ok.’ … I didn’t support that last round and I won’t support another.”
Late last month, Perdue was quoted by the industry journal Farm Progress as telling Iowa farmers that the administration had no plans for further farm assistance. “The president and I haven’t talked about that,” he said, adding that reports of more aid were “not accurate.”
A USDA spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
