Trump prepares up to 20 billion dollars in extra help to save farmers from trade war

The Trump administration could put up to $ 20 billion available to farmers as part of a second round of assistance to offset the losses due to the latest retaliatory tariffs in China , said Wednesday Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.

The second tranche of Aid for Trade is modeled on that of last year. The USDA has announced assistance of up to $ 12 billion for production in 2018, mainly in the form of direct payments to farmers stung retaliation rights, as well as commodity purchases.

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Lost, speaking from South Korea during a teleconference with reporters, said the second round of assistance would likely include more direct payments and purchases of products from South Korea. based.

"In the beginning, our calculations probably ranged from $ 15 billion to $ 20 billion," he said of the estimated economic damage to farmers and the size of the potential aid program, but repeated that many details were still to be taken.

Lost also said that the USDA was taking into account the reactions of the package of aid for trade last year. Some product groups, such as corn and wheat producers, were not satisfied with the amount of assistance received by their farmers under the plan.

"We will look at the history of what happened with this program and try to try to learn from it, improve it and respond to some of the comments from these stakeholders, "he told reporters.

In terms of timing, Perdue did not give an estimate of when the plan would be announced, but said the USDA was "speeding up" its work at the request of President Donald Trump. The secretary said the program would comply with WTO limits on agricultural subsidies.

Lost said that the money could again be routed through the Commodity Credit Corporation. The administration is also studying whether trade mitigation funds could be provided through a disaster assistance bill being negotiated at Capitol Hill, has -he adds.

Lost claimed for months that the initial program of aid to trade put in place by the administration would not be replicated this year and that farmers would be forced to navigate alone in turbulent markets in their decisions to plant in France. 2019.

But the administration changed course after the intensification of the tariff battle between the United States and China earlier this month. Trump raised tariffs to 25 percent on Chinese imports by $ 200 billion, up from 10 percent previously, after US negotiators criticized Beijing for reversing specific commitments made during trade negotiations. A period of one year.

China reacted by increasing tariffs on US exports worth $ 60 billion as of June 1, many of which were already being retaliated.

The Trump administration also began the process of preparing to impose a 25% tariff on imports from China, which have so far escaped tariffs during the crisis; which represents about $ 300 billion in additional assets. The administration said earlier this week that a final decision on this potential action could not be made until the meeting of Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Osaka, Japan, at the end of June. crucial moment of the trade war.

The most recent agreement between the world's two largest economies has wiped out hope that a solution to the US-China conflict was at hand and upset commodity markets, from soybean to sugar. pork through the cotton.

The escalation also presumed another setback for US farmers, whose products were dumped last year by major trading partners such as Mexico, Canada and the European Union, in addition to the imposed levies by Beijing. Spillovers on US farms and ranches have accentuated what was already a multi-year decline in commodity prices, contributing to a sharp decline in net farm income since 2013.

Proponents of the trade support efforts of the administration argue that agricultural producers should not have to bear the burden of an attempt at the White House to balance state trading relations United States, including trying to suppress China's practice of stealing intellectual property to hand over valuable technology to access the Chinese market. But critics are likely to say that Trump is trying to calm farmers and ranchers – the backbone of conservative political support – ahead of the 2020 election by injecting more money into a problem the administration is creating.

Under the USDA's first aid package, about $ 9.5 billion was earmarked for direct payments to farmers and ranchers, although expenditures to date in the program amount to about $ 8.5 billion of dollars. The initial program provided an additional $ 1.2 billion for the purchase of surplus commodities, which were to be donated to federal nutrition programs and food banks. An additional $ 200 million has been allocated to efforts to promote US goods abroad.

The first batch of Aid for Trade led to complaints, mainly from maize and wheat producers, that the formulas used to calculate direct assistance did not correctly reflect their losses. The National Corn Growers Association said Wednesday that the rate of payment of one penny for the previous program's corn producers "has not yet done so and that it will not do it now." ".