Farmers for Free Trade released a new report that highlights the significant impact that Chinese retaliation from steel and aluminum tariffs will have on a number of U.S. industries.
The report shows that many American commodities will be hit hard, including U.S. wine, almonds, walnuts, pork, cherry, and several other commodities. The report also says certain states’ economies will be hit very hard. The report is part of an ongoing effort by Farmers for Free Trade to show the negative impacts tariffs on American agriculture, as well as amplify the voices of farmers who are hurt by them. Some of the top states hit hardest will include California, Iowa, Washington, Missouri, and North Carolina. Chinese retaliatory tariffs are 15 percent on most products, while U.S. pork exports face a 25 percent tariff.
Former Senators Richard Lugar and Max Baucus, Co-Chairs of Farmers for Free Trade, say tariffs end up as a tax on American farmers. “They increase the cost of exporting, depress the prices of farm futures, and end up hurting the bottom lines of farmers across the country,” the two say in a release. “They also incentivize trading partners like China to look elsewhere for their imports.” Lugar and Baucus point out that means trading relationships that took decades to develop can vanish overnight.
Farmers for Free Trade is a bipartisan campaign to rebuild support for trade at the grassroots level.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.