Featured Image Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, News, US News
Gerrard Kaonga
Donald Trump’s tariff wars have meant some of the groups that voted for him are now being put in a difficult position.
When Trump returned to the White House in January, he insisted that he was going to make a whole lot of changes.
The 79-year-old certainly raised some eyebrows when he announced a whole slew of tariffs in April and claimed they would greatly improve America’s economy.
Since then, he has repeatedly insisted it has been a success regardless of what his critics have said.
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However, an expert has argued that one group Trump said would benefit from the tariffs may be slightly worse off due to retaliation from China, as they were one of the nations hit hardest by this move.
Speaking to Huffpost, Paul Mitchell, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued that farmers who benefited from trading food and agriculture with China are now suffering.
He insisted the ‘tariffs are an insult to injury’ as the agricultural industry is already struggling with separate issues that impact crops, such as bad weather, pests and diseases.
Mitchell also noted that when Trump introduced the tariffs, which impacted those who trade with China the most, he told those who rely on the East Asian country to purchase their crops that it would be a ‘financial boon’.
In March, Trump said: “Our farmers are going to have a field day... to our farmers, have a lot of fun, I love you.”
However, this hasn’t been the case due to China’s response.
After Trump introduced the tariffs, China introduced their own and ultimately sparked a 'trade war' with the Chinese government refusing to buy soybeans from the US.
Mitchell added: “Corn and soybeans dominate U.S. agriculture. It’s half of the country’s crop revenue. China buys about 60 percent of the world’s traded soybean.
“So, when China says they’re not buying our soybean that really hurts our exports.”
Mitchell did point out that Trump is well aware of the issue and even took to social media to address it, condemning the move from China.
The POTUS also said he would be taking steps to help the farmers economically impacted.
Writing on Truth Social on Wednesday (October 1), Trump said: “The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying. We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers.
“I WILL NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN! Sleepy Joe Biden didn’t enforce our Agreement with China, where they were going to purchase Billions of Dollars of our Farm Product, but Soybeans, in particular. It’s all going to work out very well. I LOVE OUR PATRIOTS, AND EVERY FARMER IS EXACTLY THAT! I’ll be meeting with President Xi, of China, in four weeks, and Soybeans will be a major topic of discussion. MAKE SOYBEANS, AND OTHER ROW CROPS, GREAT AGAIN!”