With the global global tariffs that President Donald Trump takes effect this weekend, U.S. farmers looking to make a profit this year find themselves facing lower crop prices and potentially occupying more foundations in foreign markets.
“We are now well below branches,” said Jim Martin, a fifth-generation Illinois farmer.
He told him: “We know it’s coming.” AFP Trump’s tariffs. “I think we’re eager to see how it will be resolved in the end.”
The president’s “baseline” rate of goods for most U.S. trading partners outside of Saturday’s effect.
Starting Wednesday, dozens of economies, including the EU, China and India, will face higher levels (suitable for every political party).
Through retaliation, farmers are the main support base of Trump’s re-election campaign in 2024, once again falling into losses in the firefight.
Prices of many U.S. agricultural products fell on Friday after Trump’s tariff announcement and China’s pushback.
China, the third largest importer of U.S. farms after Canada and Mexico, will be hit hard, with its products piling up to 34% of its earlier 20% tax.
In response, Beijing said it would impose its own 34% tariff on U.S. goods to a previous rate of up to 15% on U.S. agricultural products.
Tariffs mean that companies pay more for importing American products, which damages American farmers’ competitiveness.
Market loss
Michael Slattery grows corn, soybeans and wheat in Midwest Wisconsin.
We export at least half of our soybeans, and even more sorghum, to China, spent $24.7 billion on U.S. agriculture last year, including chicken, beef and other crops.
But the USDA said purchases in China fell 15% last year from 2023, “as competition continues to rise in South America, soybean and corn sales have fallen.”
Slattery hopes Chinese buyers will dial back further.
“Losing this market is very big because finding other buyers is expensive,” said Christopher Barrett, a Cornell professor who includes agricultural economics.
Barrett said China was “the only target and therefore the only country of retaliation” during Trump’s war on tariff hikes during his first presidency.
With all trading partners’ targets, farmers may find it difficult to find new markets, he said.
band-aid
“More than 20% of farm income comes from exports, and farmers rely on imports to provide key supplies such as fertilizers and specialized tools,” the U.S.A. Federation of Agriculture warned this week.
It added: “Tariffs will increase the cost of critical supplies, and retaliatory tariffs will make U.S.-grown products more expensive globally.”
The International Dairy Food Association warned on Wednesday that “broad and extended tariffs” and growing market risks to top trading partners have undermined billions of dollars in investment to meet global demand.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture found that retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. were triggering more than $27 billion in agricultural export losses from mid-2018 to the end of 2019.
Although the department provided $23 billion to help farmers hit by the trade dispute in 2018 and 2019, Martin of Illinois compared the rescue figure to “a band-aid, a temporary solution to a long-term problem.”
“The president said that in the long run, things will be better, so we need to determine the patience we need,” he added.
Like other producers, Martin hopes to reach more trade deals with countries outside China.
Slatri called Trump’s policy a “major reorganization of the international order.”
He is preparing for losses this year and the next.
“I tried to sell as much soy and corn as possible in advance before Trump began to show the amount of tariffs he was going to charge,” he said.
