{"id":1124,"date":"2025-04-10T22:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T22:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/trumps-tariff-fight-with-china-poses-new-threat-to-us-farmers\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T22:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T22:21:23","slug":"trumps-tariff-fight-with-china-poses-new-threat-to-us-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/trumps-tariff-fight-with-china-poses-new-threat-to-us-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Tariff Fight With China Poses New Threat to US Farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After China unveiled steep retaliatory tariffs on American exports on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a sharp and somewhat surprising response: \u201cSo what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The question underscored the Trump administration\u2019s argument that America has the upper hand in a trade war with China given how reliant its economy is on exports to the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States buys far more goods from China than China buys from the United States. But Beijing\u2019s decision to retaliate against President Trump\u2019s punishing tariffs by raising levies on American imports to 84 percent could sting more than Mr. Bessent let on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAmerican companies that have been selling to China, and have been enormously successful doing that, are not going to be able to do that because of Chinese retaliation,\u201d Sean Stein, the president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said in the hours before Mr. Trump ratcheted up his tariffs again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTariffs on the Chinese side and the U.S. side cover everything,\u201d Mr. Stein added, meaning everything from aviation to medical imaging to agriculture would be affected and \u201ctrade is going to slow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States exported $143.5 billion of goods to China last year and imported $438.9 billion from that country, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ustr.gov\/countries-regions\/china-mongolia-taiwan\/peoples-republic-china\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The loss of China as an export market will deal a particularly hard economic blow to agricultural workers in many red states, hitting many of the voters who helped Mr. Trump win the presidential election. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump ratcheted U.S. tariffs on China even higher as he initiated a pause on \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs that he had imposed on other countries. The reprieve offers little relief for farmers who are concerned that a protracted trade war with China will cut off ties with their largest export market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The first trade war with China, which lasted from 2018 to 2019, resulted in billions of dollars of lost revenue for American farmers. To help offset the losses, Mr. Trump handed out <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-22-104259\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">$23 billion<\/a> in subsidies <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/gao-22-104259.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">from a fund that the Department of Agriculture created<\/a> to stabilize the farm sector. Large farm operations and farmers in the South benefited the most, fueling concerns about fairness and leaving some farmers feeling cheated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The soybean industry is one of the sectors most concerned about the current tariff retaliation. China is America\u2019s largest soybean export market, but when Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods during his first term, Beijing retaliated by buying soybeans from other countries, including Brazil.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf this lasts long term, we\u2019re going to have a significant number of farmers going out of business,\u201d said Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer who is president of the American Soybean Association. \u201cWe still bear scars from the last trade war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The American Soybean Association has been urging the Trump administration to strike a new trade deal with China to avoid a long-term trade war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">U.S. corn farmers, who sell about 2 percent of their products to China, have also been on edge about the trade fight. They welcomed Mr. Trump\u2019s decision to pause punishing tariffs on other countries that could have led to more retaliation on farmers and other American businesses. But they urged the Trump administration to focus on negotiations that open up market access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe longer that uncertainty exists, the more concerned we become that our growers could harvest billions of bushels of corn for which they will not have reliable markets,\u201d said Kenneth Hartman Jr., president of the National Corn Growers Association. \u201cOur farmers want certainty that our customers at home and abroad will buy our products in the months and years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Anxiety over the impact of the tariffs was evident on Wednesday as Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee and faced questions from Republicans who were nervous about retaliation from other countries against U.S. farm exports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Representative Darin LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, said that he appreciated what Mr. Trump was doing to address longstanding trade barriers, but that his constituents were concerned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAs I talk to my farmers, there\u2019s a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of uncertainty, because when we get into a trade war, usually the first pawn in the trade war is agriculture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Greer responded that \u201calmost all countries have announced that they\u2019re not going to retaliate\u201d except for China. Indonesia, India and many other countries \u201chave affirmatively said we\u2019re not retaliating,\u201d he added, while some countries, like Vietnam, have unilaterally offered to lower tariffs on U.S. farm products. Mr. Greer did not mention that Europe announced retaliatory measures on Wednesday or that Canada had retaliated against previous rounds of tariffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bessent downplayed the impact of China\u2019s response on Wednesday morning, arguing on the Fox Business Network that the United States exports relatively little to China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cChina can raise their tariffs, but so what?\u201d said Mr. Bessent, who owns as much as $25 million of North Dakota farmland that he must divest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The retaliation could force the Trump administration to revive the bailouts to American farmers that were offered during the president\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said on Wednesday that such a relief package was being considered and that \u201ceverything is on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At a White House cabinet meeting on Thursday, Ms. Rollins noted that farmers and ranchers had been struggling because of inflation and were concerned about uncertainty over trade but that they supported Mr. Trump\u2019s economic agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYour idea of using tariffs to ensure that we are putting forward and putting America first, no one understands that better than our farmers and our ranchers,\u201d Ms. Rollins said. \u201cThe period of uncertainty that we\u2019re in, they know that your vision will move us into an age of prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump offered little clarity on Thursday about a truce with China, but the president expressed general optimism about the economic relationship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked about the potential for a deal with China, Mr. Trump said he expected that \u201cwe\u2019ll end up working out something that\u2019s very good for both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The president initially hailed the trade deal that he reached with China during his first term as a success, but China ultimately failed to honor promises it had made to buy large quantities of American farm products. Meanwhile, almost all of the tariff proceeds the United States collected during that trade war were used to provide relief to the agriculture industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Farmers generally resist government handouts, but Mr. Ragland of the American Soybean Association said federal relief might be necessary in this case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf we continue to be used as a negotiating tool, and we\u2019re going to be a sacrificial lamb on behalf of the bigger picture, we\u2019re going to have to have an economic package to help us keep the lights on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Tony Romm<!-- --> contributed reporting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After China unveiled steep retaliatory tariffs on American exports on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a sharp and somewhat surprising response: \u201cSo what?\u201d The question underscored the Trump administration\u2019s argument that America has the upper hand in a trade war with China given how reliant its economy is on exports to the United States. 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