President Trump said on Thursday that he hoped to take some of the money raised by his tariffs and “give it to our farmers,” inching a much-discussed agricultural bailout closer to reality.
The Trump administration’s trade wars have worsened farmers’ struggles in recent years. Mr. Trump said that a plan was coming together to “make sure our farmers are in great shape,” during remarks in the Oval Office alongside Turkey’s president.
Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, cautioned at a conference in Kansas City, Mo., that the government was “not ready to announce a payment plan yet.” But she added: “We are very close to understanding and knowing and announcing what we will do.”
Farmers of row crops like soybeans, corn, sorghum and cotton have suffered in recent years from rising costs for necessities like seed and fertilizer, while the prices for their crops have been falling. Some farmers will lose money on their third straight harvest this year, and Mr. Trump’s trade agenda, which has reduced foreign demand for American crops, has added to farmers’ challenges.
The Trump administration’s tariffs have invited retaliatory tariffs, especially from China, that have made American crops more expensive. Exports of soybeans, sorghum, rice and beans in particular have flatlined.
Some administration officials knew this was a likely outcome from a trade war. The White House has considered payments to farmers since March, even before tariffs were placed on countries around the world. And during the first Trump administration, a trade war with China also cost farmers dearly, ultimately prompting the Agriculture Department to pay farmers $23 billion from a fund.
Details of a possible bailout, including how much farmers could be paid this time and how they would qualify for payments, were not announced.
Ms. Rollins, appearing at the Ag Outlook Forum, addressed other measures the government was preparing to help the agricultural sector. The department in the next few weeks plans to announce an initiative to help rebuild America’s cattle herds, which are at their lowest in more than 70 years, driving beef prices to record highs.
But Ms. Rollins said that program would not involve direct payments to ranchers. “We see how the government getting involved can completely distort the markets,” she said.
Ms. Rollins also raised the possibility of opening antitrust investigations into the seed and fertilizer markets, where a few large companies control most of the market.
The departments of Agriculture and Justice have signed a memorandum of agreement “to protect farmers and ranchers from the burden imposed by high and volatile input costs,” as well as to ensure competitive supply chains and lower prices, she said.
Kevin Draper is a business correspondent covering the agriculture industry. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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