Trump is getting ready to fight the trade war

The US President Donald Trump is getting ready to fight a full-scale trade war ordering Agriculture Secretary to prepare supporting measures for the US farmers to help to smooth the negative effects on US farm products as a result of retaliatory action against the US from its trading partners including China, Mexico, and the European Union.

This all came one day before the US President Trump is scheduled to meet Jean Claude Juncker for discussion about the trade tariffs. It is widely expected that the main subject to their discussion is going to be tariffs on cars.

The US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue prepared a short-term plan of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday to take several actions to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation. President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a short-term relief strategy to protect agricultural producers while the Administration works on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets, in the long run, to help American farmers compete globally. 

Specifically, the USDA will authorize up to $12 billion in support programs. This comes in line with the estimated $11 billion impact of the unjustified retaliatory tariffs on US agricultural goods. These programs will assist agricultural producers to meet the costs of disrupted markets.

“This is a short-term solution to allow President Trump time to work on long-term trade deals to benefit agriculture and the entire U.S. economy,” Secretary Perdue said in the press release. 

“The President promised to have the back of every American farmer and rancher, and he knows the importance of keeping our rural economy strong. Unfortunately, America’s hard-working agricultural producers have been treated unfairly by China’s illegal trading practices and have taken a disproportionate hit when it comes illegal retaliatory tariffs. USDA will not stand by while our hard-working agricultural producers bear the brunt of unfriendly tariffs enacted by foreign nations. The programs we are announcing today help ensure our nation’s agriculture continues to feed the world and innovate to meet the demand.”

According to the statement, USDA will use the following programs to assist farmers:

• The Market Facilitation Program, authorized under The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and administered by Farm Service Agency (FSA), will provide payments incrementally to producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy, and hogs. This support will help farmers manage disrupted markets, deal with surplus commodities, and expand and develop new markets at home and abroad.
• Additionally, USDA will use CCC Charter Act and other authorities to implement a Food Purchase and Distribution Program through the Agricultural Marketing Service to purchase an unexpected surplus of affected commodities such as fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and milk for distribution to food banks and other nutrition programs.
• Finally, the CCC will use its Charter Act authority for a Trade Promotion Program administered by the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) in conjunction with the private sector to assist in developing new export markets for our farm products.