It’s an issue that keeps coming up, including at a recent Senate Ag Committee hearing—the disconnect between tariffs to open markets and continued ad hoc farm assistance.
The question was ‘trade vs. aid.’ First, there was almost $30 billion, then another $12 billion, and $28 billion in the first Trump term.
Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin.
If you’re talking, and we’re highlighting 19 new trade deals that this administration has done, why do we need the ‘sloppy tariffs?’ I think it’s hard to explain why there’s literally assistance being farmed out by your agency for a policy that’s working.”
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins pointed to the Biden Administration.
“The $30 billion you’re talking about was approved before we came in. So, you all voted on that in late 2024, that $30 billion. We came in and implemented the tariffs in 2025.”
Slotkin wasn’t convinced.
“But is there not $12 billion in assistance that you’re currently farming out to farmers, including mine, because they do not have enough money and have lost access to foreign markets?”
Especially soybeans to China. Rollins was quick to respond
“The soybeans are back and even stronger today, as is sorghum.”
Rollins says the Ag trade deficit has been halved and major farm exports will be up by double digits this year. And as the midterms approach, she blames the prior administration for making no new trade deals.