United States Announces Billions to Help Farmers Affected by Trump Rates

WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration announced Tuesday that it would provide $ 12 billion in emergency aid to ease the pain of American farmers slammed by escalating disputes trade between President Donald Trump and China and other countries

. He quickly rejected the plan, stating that farmers want markets for their crops, not profits for lost sales and lower prices.

The Ministry of Agriculture said it would operate an existing program to provide billions of direct payments to farmers and ranchers With the upcoming congressional elections, government action has emphasized the administration's concern over the damage done to American farmers by Trump's commercial rates and the possibility of losing seats in the House and Senate in the Midwest and elsewhere. program was just temporary.

"This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his adminis," said Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, while government officials argued that the plan did not constitute Not a "bailout" of the country's farmers

. Republicans, who said the tariffs are simply taxes and warned that the action would open a Pandora's box for other areas of the country. Economics

"I want to know what we are going to say to car manufacturers and petrochemical manufacturers. the other people who are hurt by the tariffs, "said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. "You have to treat everyone the same way."

Sen. Ben Sbade, R-Neb., Said the plan would spend billions on "crutches of gold," adding that "American farmers do not want to be paid to lose – they want to earn by feeding the world. are not going to make America even more beautiful, they'll start all over again 1929. "

The program is expected to come into effect around Labor Day. Direct payments could help soybean producers, who have been hard hit by the retaliation for Trump duties, as well as sorghum, maize, wheat, cotton, dairy products and hog farmers

. He does not specifically mention the plan during a speech to the Kansas City veterans, but asks for patience as he tries to renegotiate trade agreements.He said that American workers had been injured.

"We are doing so my progress, they all arrive, they do not want that we impose these rates, "said Trump at the National Congress of veterans of foreign wars. "We open markets, you watch what's going to happen, be a little patient."

Agriculture officials said that they would not need Congressional approval and that the money would go through the Commodity Credit Corporation, a wing of the United States. department. Brad Karmen, Assistant Deputy Administrator of the USDA for Agricultural Programs, noted that the wheat crop is already underway, so wheat producers could get payments. earlier than other producers.

Soybeans are probably the most affected sector by the programs. Soybean prices have dropped 18 percent in the last two months.

Trump said Tuesday that " tariffs are the highest " and threatened to impose additional sanctions on US trading partners. European officials at the White House.

Rates are taxes on importation. They aim to protect domestic companies and to disadvantage foreign competitors. But taxes also weigh on US companies and consumers, who pay more for imported products.

The Trump administration has imposed $ 34 billion rights on Chinese products in the context of a dispute over high-tech industrial policies. China fought back with rights over soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in its 2016 campaign.

Trump threatened to impose penalties on 500 billions of dollars of products imported from China. this move would greatly increase the stakes in the trade dispute involving the world's largest economies.

Movements upset legislators with districts dependent on manufacturers and farmers affected by retaliatory tariffs.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Said the proposal had been raised a month ago when senators went to the White House for a broad discussion on trade. He said lawmakers told the president "that our farmers want markets, and not really a payment from the government." He said, "I'm surprised, I've never heard of anyone who did not want government payment."

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Who has criticized the president in the past, said the rates "represent a mbadive increase in taxes for US consumers and businesses, and instead of providing welfare to farmers to solve a problem that they have created themselves.

Republican Senator Charles Grbadley, whose family operates a farm in East Iowa, said the administration's decision was "encouraging in the short term" but that the farmers needed "markets and opportunities". The Ministry of Agriculture predicted before the trade fights that US farm income would fall this year to $ 60 billion, half of the $ 120 billion from five years ago.

Mark Martinson, who raises crops and cattle in north-central North Dakota and is president of the US Durum Growers Association, said the $ 12 billion figure "seems huge," but there is has a lot of farmers in need. "I do not think it will cover us for a very long time – and he may not even buy a diesel tank, I think it will only stop the fire a bit."

"We are just" Tom Giessel, who was growing his fields when he stopped his tractor to take a phone call from a reporter seeking his reaction to the plan. "

Giesse, who grows wheat and wheat. corn near the community of western Kansas Larned, said that he was "happy that they are trying to do something, but I do not know when the day will be over, how many difference this is going to make. "The underlying problem is still there."

Trump's imposition has favored tariffs on imported products, but it has prompted US partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. , an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. It also threatened to impose tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting $ 335 billion worth of imports last year.

The President meets the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Wednesday. The United States and its European allies meet as the conflict threatens to spread to auto production.

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Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking and Matthew Daly in Washington, James MacPherson in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kansas, contributed.