Farmers and other businesspeople are watching the Trump administration’s trade strategy very carefully as tariffs, which could directly affect their bottom line, go up and down and back again. Brian Kuehl is Executive Director of Farmers for Free Trade and is holding town hall meetings across the country to discuss the tariff war and its impacts. He says he’s especially concerned about how it will affect farmers.
“20% of US farm revenue comes from exports, so if our exports decline, our farmers decline, and that’s really scary. Farmers also are price takers when it comes to input. So if we’re driving up the cost of fertilizer or steel or farm chemicals, farmers get squeezed, and that’s the big concern. We don’t want to see farmers go out of business. Farmers play an important role in terms of food security, terms of keeping our rural communities afloat.”
Kuehl says he’s hearing a uniform message from producers at these meetings: They’re nervous.
“I think we’re all willing to give a little bit of latitude to President Trump. You know, we’d like to get better deals. So, everyone’s waiting on that but, patience, I think, is wearing thin. I think there are farmers who are getting squeezed already, and certainly, if this drags on into harvest season, I think we’re going to see a lot of pain.”
The volatility and uncertainty of the tariff war is causing farmers to reevaluate how they operate.
“People are sort of parking their capital. They’re not going to take risks in this environment. You can’t afford to, because you’ll go out of business. So we’re seeing people that are not making investments. You know, we had one of our farmer participants who said he’s not going to put up a new barn this year. Who would put up a new barn this year? You want to hold your capital in case things get bad. And I think when you think about how that affects the US economy, if everybody behaves that way, we’re going to see a contraction of the economy.”
Farmers for Free Trade has hosted town hall meetings in Austin, Texas and Raleigh in the past couple of weeks. Their next stop is scheduled for June 17 in Swisher, Iowa.