AFBF: Tariffs Are Not What Farmers Need
President Trump’s planned new tariff on all remaining Chinese exports to the U.S. is not going over well with American agriculture, despite the patience of many in farming with the tariff war, so far. A new 10% tariff on all remaining $300 billion in China’s exports to the U.S. will start September 1st because, as the President put it, China gave no ground in renewed trade talks and failed to buy more American Ag goods as promised.
“We’d rather see the negotiations than tariffs; tariffs bring on more retaliation," said American Farm Bureau trade advisor Dave Salmonsen. "Right now, China’s basically retaliating with higher tariffs against almost all of US exports. But, of course, you can say, what else can they do, well, they can always raise. You could always increase tariffs or you could impose some non-tariff barriers.”
Salmonsen said the president could still delay the new tariffs, again, if there are positive developments in the trade discussions. However, the next round of talks isn’t planned until after Trump’s September 1st tariff deadline.
Meanwhile, Salmonsen said he’s encouraged when it comes to ongoing talks with Japan.
“In fact, things were said, maybe next month, there would be some action, we could get a deal with Japan focusing in on agriculture; improving beef, pork and a variety of other product exports into Japan," Salmonson continued. "There, time really is of the essence. As every month goes by, we are falling behind our competitors, who are getting better tariff treatment, lower tariffs all the time.”
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