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📂 Category: China,Donald Trump news,farm aid,farmers,farming,tariffs,trade wars
✅ Main takeaway:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is planning a $12 billion farm aid package, according to a White House official — support for farmers struggling to sell their crops while hurt by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war.
The President is expected to hold a roundtable discussion at 2 p.m. EST. Watch the live stream in our video player above.
According to the official, who was granted anonymity to speak ahead of the planned announcement, Trump will unveil the plan Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers and farmers who grow corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, rice, livestock, wheat and potatoes.
He watches: Minnesota farmers struggle to survive as China boycotts US soybeans
Farmers have supported Trump politically, but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny because of their impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader consumer concerns.
The aid is the administration’s latest effort to defend Trump’s economic stewardship and answer voters’ concerns about rising costs — even as the president dismisses concerns about affordability as a Democratic “trick.”
More than $11 billion has been allocated to the USDA’s Farmer Assistance Program, which the White House says will provide one-time payments to farmers for row crops.
He watches: Trump is considering a $10 billion bailout for farmers, as tariffs disrupt the market
Soybeans and sorghum were most affected by the trade dispute with China, because more than half of these crops are exported each year, and most of the crop goes to China.
The aid is intended to help farmers who have suffered from trade wars with other countries, inflation, and other market disruptions.
The rest of the money will go to farmers who grow crops not included in the bridges assistance program, according to the White House official. These funds are intended to provide certainty to farmers as they market the current crop, as well as plan for next year’s crop.
China’s purchases have been slow
In October, after Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, the White House said Beijing had promised to buy at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by the end of the calendar year, plus 25 million metric tons annually in each of the next three years. Soybean farmers have been particularly hard hit by Trump’s trade war with China, the world’s largest buyer of soybeans.
China has purchased more than 2.8 million metric tons of soybeans since Trump announced the agreement at the end of October. That’s about a quarter of what administration officials said China promised, but Bessent said China is on track to meet its goal by the end of February.
“Those prices didn’t arrive because the Chinese used our soybean farmers as pawns in trade negotiations,” Besant said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” explaining why a “stage payment” to farmers was needed.
During his first presidency, Trump also provided aid to farmers amid his trade wars. It gave them more than $22 billion in 2019 and about $46 billion in 2020, though that year also included aid related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump has also been under pressure to address rising beef prices, which have reached record highs for a number of reasons. Demand for beef has been strong at a time when drought has cut off U.S. cattle herds and imports from Mexico have declined due to a resurgence of parasites. Trump said he would allow more Argentine beef to be imported.
He also asked the Justice Department to investigate foreign-owned meatpacking companies that he accused of raising beef prices, although he did not provide evidence to support his claims.
On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order directing the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to look into “anticompetitive conduct” in food supply chains — including seeds, fertilizer and equipment — and consider taking enforcement actions or developing new regulations.
Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Jack Dora in Bismarck, North Dakota.
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