Thursday U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Predue announced that President Trump has “authorized USDA to provide up to $16 billion in programs,” to assist farmers who will be impacted by what Predue calls, “unjustified retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other trade disruptions.”
As the News Blender reported on May 5th, President Trump via Twitter announced that tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods would increase from 10 percent to 25 percent
For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019
….of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019
CNBC News notes that U.S. importers have paid the brunt of the Chinese goods tariffs.
The direct payments to the producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, plus dairy producers, to name a few, will total $14.5 billion and will be based on, “a single county rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings to those crops in aggregate in 2019. Those per acre payments are not dependent on which of those crops are planted in 2019, and therefore will not distort planting decisions.”
In his statement Predue praised the President for standing up to China and “sending the clear message that the United States will no longer tolerate their unfair trade practices, which include non-tariff trade barriers and the theft of intellectual property.”
He went on to say that the President has a “great affection,” for our farmers and ranchers, he writes, “In fact, I’ve never known of a president that has been more concerned or interested in farmer wellbeing and long-term profitability than President Trump.”
He concluded by noting, “Our farmers work hard, are the most productive in the world, and we aim to match their enthusiasm and patriotism as we support them.”
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst (R) told Bloomberg on Tuesday that she predicts that the payment levels would anger corn farmers, “Corn farmers are going to be very upset about this. It’s better than the 1 cent per bushel that they got earlier but it’s not enough.”
CNBC News reported that according to the USDA “U.S. tariff revenue collected by the Treasury would be used to support the payment program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
As a reminder this is the second planned bailout to help farmers and ranchers impacted by the U.S./China trade war.
The first payment is expected sometime in July or August.
The announcement comes hours before the President is expected to deliver remarks to ranchers and farmers.
Here’s Trump’s public schedule for tomorrow. (Public schedules don’t include all of a president’s activities.) pic.twitter.com/XI3hiNQ7bu
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 23, 2019
