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Trump administration to provide billions in aid to farmers hurt by tariffs Trump administration to provide $12bn in aid to farmers hurt by tariffs
(about 2 hours later)
The Trump administration readied a plan on Tuesday to send billions in emergency aid to farmers who have been caught in the crossfire of Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other US trading partners. The US government has announced a $12bn plan to assist farmers who have been hurt by Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other trading partners.
The agriculture department was expected to announce the proposal that would include direct assistance and other temporary relief for farmers, according to two people briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to speak on the record. The plan focuses on midwest soya bean producers and others targeted by retaliatory measures.
The plan comes as Trump is scheduled to speak at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Kansas City in the heart of the nation’s farm country. The agriculture department said the proposal would include direct assistance for farmers, purchases of excess crops and trade promotion activities aimed at building new export markets. Officials said the plan would not require congressional approval and would come through the Commodity Credit Corporation, a wing of the department that addresses agricultural prices.
Trump declared earlier on Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on US trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House. “This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration the time to work on long-term trade deals,” said agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue. Officials said the direct payments could help producers of soya beans, which have been hit hard by the Trump tariffs, along with sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and farmers raising hogs.
The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34bn in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s hi-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign. In Kansas City, meanwhile, Trump told a veterans convention that he was trying to renegotiate trade agreements that he said have hurt American workers, and he asked for patience ahead of key talks.
Trump has threatened to place tariffs on up to $500bn in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies. “We’re making tremendous progress. They’re all coming. They don’t want to have those tariffs put on them,” Trump told the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.
Before departing for Kansas City, Trump tweeted that US trade partners need to either negotiate a “fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that.” Trump declared earlier Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on US trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.
The president has engaged in hardline trading negotiations with China, Canada and European countries, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation’s manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades. Tariffs are taxes on imports. They are meant to protect domestic businesses and put foreign competitors at a disadvantage. But the taxes also exact a toll on US businesses and consumers, which pay more for imported products.
The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted US trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy. The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34bn in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soya beans and pork, affecting midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign.
Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to US national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335bn. Trump has threatened to place penalty taxes on up to $500bn in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies.
During a Monday event at the White House featuring American-made goods, Trump displayed a green hat that read: “Make Our Farmers Great Again.”
“We’re stopping the barriers to other countries. They send them in and take advantage of us,” Trump said. “This is the way it’s going to go make our farmers great again.”
The president is meeting the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Wednesday. The US and European allies have been at odds over the president’s tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.
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Donald TrumpDonald Trump
International tradeInternational trade
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