After Donald Trump impulsively embraced and implemented an ill-advised tariff on Chinese steel, economists warned that China would hit back and hit back they have, taking direct aim at America’s agriculture industry. After announcing tariffs on American products like fruits, nuts and aluminum, China's Ministry of Commerce announced they were adding an additional 106 products to the new tariff list. The complete list can be found here, but soybean, tobacco and automobiles will take the hardest hit. That means Trump country better buckle up for hard times ahead. To get an idea of where these voters live, check out this map of “soybean voters.”
In short, the “soybean voters” are the heart of “Trump country.” Agriculture is Iowa’s #1 industry and Iowa’s soybean farmers and pork producers will be some of the hardest hit, casualties of Trump’s needless, nonsensical trade war. Even Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley issued a hard-hitting statement saying he tried to warn Trump.
The United States should take action to defend its interests when any foreign nation isn’t playing by the rules or refuses to police itself. But farmers and ranchers shouldn’t be expected to bear the brunt of retaliation for the entire country. It’s not fair, and it doesn’t make economic sense. The administration knew that if it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, China would retaliate against U.S. agriculture. I warned President Trump as much in a White House meeting in February. Today shows that’s exactly what happened. If the federal government takes action on trade that directly results in economic hardship for certain Americans, it has a responsibility to help those Americans and mitigate the damage it caused.
And how about those tariffs on the U.S. auto industry? Although there are still factories and assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, much of the auto production in the U.S. has shifted to the South, with plants in Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. You can see a listing of auto manufacturing in the U.S. at Car and Driver, but of the states listed above, all but Illinois went to Donald Trump on the electoral map.
Racism, sexism, xenophobia and bragging about sexually assaulting women hasn’t been enough to sway Republican voters, will a loss of jobs and income? According to one Iowa farmer, maybe.
If enough of America’s farmers find themselves at great financial risk, that perceived “economic anxiety” they allegedly had in 2016 is going to become a full-blown problem for Republicans on the ballot in the November midterms as real economic consequences take hold. Maybe, just maybe, a guy who has filed six bankruptcies and somehow managed to be one of the only people in the world to bankrupt a casino, isn’t the best person to be making economic policies for the nation.
Read more about the rural panic taking hold in “Trump tariff backlash causes panic in rural America as mega jobs losses appear on the horizon.”
Wednesday, Apr 4, 2018 · 6:00:00 PM +00:00 · Jen Hayden
As noted by Kerry Eleveld in her front page post, the Chicago Tribune spoke with an Illinois hog farmer who described this as their “worst fears coming true.”
“We were hoping it was just brinkmanship and cooler heads would prevail. But instead, some of our worst fears seem to be coming true,” said Duncan, who’s also vice president of the Illinois Farm Bureau. “This is significant, real and serious for rural America.”