We love our farmers

[04/09/18]

“But if we do a deal with China, if, during the course of a negotiation they want to hit the farmers because they think that hits me, I wouldn’t say that's nice. But I tell you, our farmers are great patriots,” Trump said.

“These are great patriots. They understand that they're doing this for the country," Trump said. "And we'll make it up to them. And in the end, they're going to be much stronger than they are right now.”

He added that farmers have been “trending downward over an eight-year period” and said that, because of his actions on the North American Free Trade Agreement and China, “farmers will be better off than they ever were.”
  The Hill

The American Soybean Association (ASA) said in a statement that soybean farmers “rely heavily” on exports to China, and said that they lobbied Trump to reconsider the tariffs.

John Heisdorffer, an Iowa soybean farmer and president of the ASA, warned of the impact of the tariffs on farmers.

“Soybeans are the top agriculture export for the United States, and China is the top market for purchasing those exports,” Heisdorffer said in the statement. “The math is simple. You tax soybean exports at 25-percent, and you have serious damage to U.S. farmers.”

[...]

The tariffs came in response to Trump's 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports, which went into effect Friday. Trump has been critical of China on trade, and his tariffs have prompted China to accuse him of starting “the biggest trade war in economic history.”

  The Hill

Who was it who said, "Trade wars are easy to win"?

The U.S. is expected to impose tariffs on an additional $16 billion in Chinese products later this month.

[In April], Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told a town hall in Ohio that the president had told him that farmers would not be hurt by the ongoing trade dispute with China.

“I talked to the president as recently as last night,” Perdue said. “And he said, ‘Sonny, you can assure your farmers out there that we're not going to allow them to be the casualties if this trade dispute escalates. We're going to take care of our American farmers. You can tell them that directly.’ ”

  The Hill

Yeah, you tell 'em, Sonny.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.