Trump Tariffs Unsettle Farmers, but They Have Their Own Fair Trade Complaints

The agriculture industry has plenty of complaints about trade.The National Pork Producers Council says the European Union puts the U.S.pork industry at a disadvantage.

The council is none too happy with trade practices of Ecuador and Brazil, either.The USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, for its part, has a gripe with India.Citing that country’s 100 percent tariffs, it notes that India has imported only $255,000 worth of U.S.

chicken parts since 2018.But neither organization is a fan of unilateral tariffs that, as the pork council said in a statement to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, “will likely lead to retaliation and harm.”Such is the balance the industry has tried to strike since Donald J.Trump came into office a second time, brandishing a big tariff stick.

He quickly signed an executive order placing tariffs on goods coming into the country from Mexico, Canada and China.Mexico and Canada got a temporary reprieve, but President Trump has said more tariffs are coming next month.His actions have put U.S.

farmers in a tough position.Most agricultural trade groups have opposed tariffs, albeit cautiously.

U.S.agricultural export revenue was $191 billion last year, according the Department of Agriculture, and the groups believe that the tariffs will raise prices for farmers, exporters and consumers, and that retaliatory tariffs — like those that China imposed on farm products like chicken, pork and soybeans — harm their industries.But they also know that publicly opposing this administration means they will likely never get an audience with it.

And they are hoping that, along with any bad effects, the Trump administration’s trade war — which has been erratic, with tariffs announced one day only to be rescinded or modified days later — might help them address some longstanding grievances with the trade practices of countries around the world.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in you...