Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said her state is likely to be hurt if President Trump’s tariffs on China spark a trade war between the U.S. and the most populated country in the world.
The Republican told CBS’ “Face The Nation” that farmers in her state will likely be facing some tough times if China retaliates to the tariffs Trump handed down last week. Iowa, a major agricultural state, exports a large amount of its crop to China.
“Nobody wins in a trade war,” she said.
“Especially because the Chinese officials, their media, are reporting that they will retaliate against American agricultural products, namely pork and soybeans,” Ernst added. “China has purchased $14 billion worth in 2016 of American soybeans and roughly 60 percent of our soybean crop does go to China. If they start retaliating, we will see significant impact very detrimental impact not just in Iowa but across the Midwest as well.”
Republican lawmakers have broken with Trump over the tariffs, which are meant to hit back at China over the theft of American intellectual property. The Trump administration is hitting China with about $60 billion in tariffs.
The Chinese government already appears to be retaliating, with a planned $3 billion tariff on American goods in the works.
