OPINION:
Conservatives once heralded the good news of American prosperity derived from free trade and that trade among nations led to peace rather than conflict abroad. Today, too many cheer the tariff spree crushing American farmers who feed the world. A thriving farm belt and affordable groceries require an end to the tariffs, which are closing the world to American agriculture.
President Trump’s tariffs “target” foreign countries but harm our farmers in states such as Iowa, Nebraska and Indiana. Nitrogen fertilizer prices rose by double digits this past year, reaching a “disastrous level,” farm groups said. The effective tariff rate on other essentials, such as seeds, herbicides and machinery, jumped from less than 1% when Mr. Trump took office to more than 12% today, a stunning twelvefold increase.
Coming into this year, American cattle ranchers were already suffering from regional droughts across the American West, which left the cattle count at a 75-year low.
Mr. Trump’s broad tariffs exacerbated the pain for ranchers by increasing input costs and subjecting them to retaliatory tariffs. This made our ranchers’ diminished and high-priced supply even less competitive. Meanwhile, the new 50% tariffs on Brazilian beef caused ground beef prices to reach an all-time high of $6.32 per pound in September, up 12.8% this year and rivaling the largest annual increase on record.
To alleviate the pain, Mr. Trump is considering quadrupling Argentine beef imports to 80,000 metric tons, which again proves the maxim that trade lowers prices and tariffs raise them, despite the administration’s denials.
American cattle ranchers reacted with outrage at the possibility of increasing beef imports from Argentina, but American families shouldn’t face a tariff-driven beef tax. Amusingly, the president has demanded that American cattle ranchers “get their prices down.” Unfortunately, ranchers cannot magically end regional drought, but removing regulatory hurdles such as onerous federal land grazing restrictions and ending the unlawful tariffs on inputs could help our ranchers regain market share by lowering their costs.
Tariffs are driving farmers’ costs higher while causing farm revenue to plummet. American agriculture is an export business. More than 20% of what American farmers grow is exported. Retaliatory tariffs enacted by some of our largest customers, such as Canada and the European Union, make U.S. products less competitive overseas.
Taxing tractors and fertilizer while chasing away our regular customers does not “level the playing field.” It spells bankruptcies, bailouts or both. In fact, family farm bankruptcies have shot up 57% from last year, an ominous signal in an industry that runs on the thinnest margins even in the best of times.
The administration proposes a bailout package funded by tariff taxes, but we have been here before. The first Trump term disbursed approximately $57 billion in direct payments, in addition to crop insurance and subsidized loans, to mitigate tariff-driven losses. Yet writing government checks to offset government-imposed losses is not a winning strategy. It’s an admission that your policy has failed.
Conservatives should correct course. Start with the removal of tariffs on essential farm inputs. Then we can work to resolve the retaliatory tariffs levied by our trading partners so ships once again sail from U.S. ports loaded with American meat, grain and produce to feed the world.
Rural America helped elect Mr. Trump, believing he would unleash an economic boom similar to that of his first term through lower taxes and less regulation. This administration cannot fully fulfill this promise of renewed prosperity if it’s walloping farmers with tariffs and forcing our best customers to shop elsewhere. American farmers don’t need a bailout. They need the removal of trade barriers so they can do better than anyone else on earth: Feed the world.
• Marc Short is chairman of the board at Advancing American Freedom, the conservative advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence. Joel Griffith is the senior fellow for economic prosperity at Advancing American Freedom.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.