The Trump administration on Wednesday said it’s considering a bailout plan for farmers in case the trade war slams the US agriculture industry.
“We are working on that. We are preparing for it. We don’t believe it will be necessary,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Fox News.
The federal government gave farmers about $28 billion in aid during Trump’s first trade war during his first term, she said.
“We are out across the world, right now, opening up new markets,” Rollins said, adding that the US needs to expand its exports of pork, soybeans and other goods to other parts of the country to reduce its reliance on China.
But farmers said the trade war has already hit them hard – sending the industry into a “full-blown crisis” as they are forced to lay off workers or shut down their businesses, according to a trade group.
China last week made its largest cancellation of pork orders since the COVID-19 pandemic, halting a shipment of 12,000 tons of pork, according to the Department of Agriculture.
The nation also dropped its US soybean orders to just 1,800 tons’ worth in the week ending April 17 – down massively (more than 97%) from 72,800 tons purchased the week before, the USDA said.
“Other countries have been treating us — our exports — unfairly for a long time. It is true,” Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, previously told The Post.
But this trade imbalance developed over decades, and cannot be reversed overnight, he added.
“If nobody’s buying the soybeans, you can’t just cut hours — you have to eliminate hours. You can’t afford to pay people if nobody’s buying your products,” Friedmann told The Post.
The White House did not provide details on the proposed relief package.
“As President Trump said, the USA will protect our farmers, and this President cares deeply about strengthening America’s agriculture industry,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Post in a statement.
“After four years of regulatory uncertainty, trade imbalances, and radical environmental policies under Joe Biden, President Trump is already delivering relief by working to end unfair trading practices, unleashing American energy, and cutting ten regulations for every new regulation.”
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