Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is not a fan of tariffs and fears farmers will be hurt, as President Trump plans to unveil a new series of tariffs against multiple nations Wednesday, on what the White House is calling “Liberation Day.”
During a stop in Iowa Monday, U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins said American farmers would again receive market disruption payments if there’s a trade war. Grassley says those payments would either have to be funded through taxes or by borrowing.
“It would be too early to talk about how much aid or what form it would be, because we don’t know the impact of the tariffs, because that’s probably not going to be what tariffs we put on,” Grassley says, “it’s other countries’ reaction to the tariffs.”
During Trump’s first administration, those trade-related payments to U.S. farmers topped $23-billion over three years. Grassley, a Republican, is concerned farmers will see their international trade partners be forced to retaliate by imposing their own tariffs on a range of commodities.
“It’s very apt to be against agriculture products. It wouldn’t be the only products probably that they’d put on a retaliatory tariff, but at least some,” Grassley says, “and then you’d have to know the financial impact of that before you would say how much money.”
Grassley says he’s partly encouraged by Rollins’ saying agricultural producers would have a financial safety net.
“I’m kind of glad that they’re willing to stand behind the farmers,” Grassley says. “I think that’s a way of kind of admitting that some of these trade policies of this administration could work negatively against agriculture, and that they’re willing to step in and fill the vacuum or the void.” He adds, however, farmers would rather get their money from the markets and not the federal treasury.
Grassley says tariffs can be troublesome. “You folks know I’m a free and fair trader,” Grassley says. “If President Trump is successful in reducing tariffs from other countries, I’ll say ‘Amen.’ If he’s unsuccessful, I’ll say ‘I told you so.'”