Trump signals bailout for soybean farmers hit by tariff war

President Trump on Wednesday said he planned to use money brought in from tariffs on imports to provide aid to soybean farmers who have been hurt by a trade dispute with China.

“The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers.”

Farmers of crops like soybeans and corn have had difficulty selling their harvest and have grappled with rising prices for supplies like fertilizer.

The U.S. has in the past been the No. 1 supplier of soybeans to China, but China recently purchased a massive soybean crop from Argentina.

Administration officials have for weeks acknowledged American farmers in particular have been hurt by the president’s trade relationship with China, which includes a 55 percent tariff on most goods from China and a retaliatory tariff from Beijing on American goods.

The president had previously indicated a bailout could be in the works using money from tariffs, though he has not offered details on how much money will be redirected or how it will be distributed.

“We’re going to take some of that tariff money that we made, we’re going to give it to our farmers, who are for a little while going to be hurt until it kicks in, the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” Trump said last week.