by Dan Burns

Oct 21, 2024, 7:30 AM

Farmers should know that Trump tariffs will hurt them

From that bastion of wild-eyed far-left radicalism, the National Corn Growers Association:

A new economic study paints a troubling picture of the potential results a renewed U.S.-China trade war could have on hundreds of thousands of farmers and rural communities, showing American-imposed tariffs would come at a steep cost to U.S. producers while benefiting Brazil and Argentina.

The study, commissioned by the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association and conducted by the World Agricultural Economic and Environmental Services, shows a new trade war would result in an immediate drop in corn and soy exports to the tune of hundreds of millions of tons. As a result, Brazil and Argentina would claim the lost market share, which would be extremely difficult for American growers to reclaim in the future.

“The study highlights the dangers that come with broad tariffs on imports,” said NCGA Lead Economist Krista Swanson. “While launching widespread tariffs may seem like an effective tool, they can boomerang and cause unintended consequences. Our first goal should be to avoid unnecessary harm.”
(NCGA)

Whoever wrote this knows his, or her, audience, and there is not the slightest reference to Trump in the article. In fact there’s even a claim that both parties are considering tariffs, couched in a very false equivalence way. But it’s no secret where the danger actually lurks.

If stuff like this gets around, does it mean for example that MN-07 will go blue? (If you don’t know, MN-07 is a very conservative district that covers very rural western Minnesota.) I acknowledge that that is extremely unlikely. But could it get at least some farmers, and those employed in businesses dependent on farmers making money, to start thinking again about some things? Especially in states more politically competitive than Minnesota is? Why not? I’m not claiming it’s a game-changer, but, every little bit, etc.

A note from Steve: This is the kind of information that ought to pierce the consciousness of the letter writer to the Star Tribune discussed in Nostalgia is a seductive liar.