U.S. farmers are losing patience with Trump's trade war, fret new $20 billion bailout wouldn't cover their losses


Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Wednesday night that he is putting together a second round of financial assistance for farmers and ranchers hit by President Trump's trade war with China. Perdue said the farm bailout will total between $15 billion and $20 billion, and include more direct payments and commodity purchases, but "many farmers doubt the scale of that aid package is anywhere near sufficient to make up for a trade spat that has shut them out of a lucrative Chinese market of 1.4 billion consumers," The Wall Street Journal reports.
"Though we are glad that the administration is considering additional assistance," Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, tells the Journal, "such temporary solutions are not sufficient to address the permanent damage the trade war has inflicted on agricultural export markets." China has retaliated against Trump's tariffs by raising tariffs on soybeans, sorghum, pork, and other U.S. agricultural products, plus slowed down purchases by state-owned companies. U.S. farm exports have plummeted and prices are at 10-year lows.
Last year, Congress approved $12 billion in trade war farm aid. So far, only $8.5 billion of that has been paid directly to farmers — and, the New York Daily News reported Thursday, $62 million of the bailout went to a Brazilian pork processing company that doesn't appear to be struggling under the trade war and is owned by two Brazilian brothers who can't leave Brazil because they are being investigated for corruption.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Agricultural areas that voted for Trump are losing patience, as The Late Show touched on Thursday night.
But the anger, despair, and financial hardship are real. "We cannot withstand another year in which our most important foreign market continues to slip away," John Heisdorffer, an Iowa soybean farmer and chairman of the American Soybean Association, tells the Journal. "Our patience is waning, our finances are suffering, and the stress from months of living with the consequences of these tariffs is mounting."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
July 6 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include paying for school lunch by enlisting, and the banality of evil
-
5 biting editorial cartoons about 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Cartoons Artists take on dangerous green things, historical precedent, and more
-
A journey into the deep past on beautiful Arran
The Week Recommends New Unesco Global Geopark played a 'key role' in the birth of modern geological science
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Trump is trying to jump-start US manufacturing. Is it worth it?
Today's Big Question The jobs are good. The workers may not be there.
-
What is the dollar's future after Moody's downgrade?
Today's Big Question Trump trade wars and growing debt have investors looking elsewhere
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices