April 2, 2025 — At an event in the White House Rose Garden today, President Trump announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on imports from all countries and higher retaliatory tariffs on some of the United States’ most important agricultural trade partners.
Trump will levy tariffs of 34 percent against China and 20 percent against the European Union. Mexico and Canada will be exempt from the new tariffs, but Trump has already put in place existing tariffs against those countries. A long list of other food and farm trade partners are subject to higher tariffs as well; Trump has set each country’s tariffs at about half the rate of its existing tariffs on U.S. goods.
“We have to take care of our people, and we’re going to take care of our people first,” Trump said, pitching the idea that the tariffs will encourage more companies to produce and sell goods within the U.S., boosting American manufacturing. He said his plan has already sparked $6 trillion in new investments in the U.S,, and the White House put out a fact sheet on the success of the tariffs he implemented during his first term. “It’s going to be fantastic for the workers. It’s going to be fantastic for everyone,” he said.
But economists say that the tariffs will cause food prices to rise and negatively impact Americans struggling to feed their families, not to mention small businesses like independent grocers and restaurants. Farmers and others across the food system are also incredibly worried about profound economic consequences. Last time around, the tariffs caused farmers who export their crops to lose billions of dollars; Trump’s USDA bailed them out with close to $30 billion in taxpayer funds.
“By declaring a worldwide trade war, the administration is hurting American farmers, workers and consumers. Increasing input costs, shutting farmers out of export markets and causing middle-class families to pay more at the grocery store is not a winning strategy,” said Representative Angie Craig (D-Minnesota), the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, in a statement.
Brooke Rollins, who sat directly in front of Trump in the audience, has already hinted that the administration will again issue payments to commodity farmers if they are hurt by the tariffs. Rollins also made two announcements related to boosting trade for farmers over the past week. She announced she’ll travel to Vietnam, Japan, India, Peru, Brazil, and the United Kingdom this year to boost agricultural trade, and that the USDA is making about $300 million available for programs intended to expand international markets for farm products. (Link to this post.)
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