U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks before departing for Florida from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 28, 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks before departing for Florida from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 28, 2025.
Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s plan to impose sweeping tariffs across the globe this week, his administration is weighing a new round of emergency aid to farmers, who are likely to be caught in the middle if America’s trading partners retaliate.
The early discussions offer a tacit acknowledgment that Trump’s expansive tariffs could unleash financial devastation throughout the US agricultural industry, a crucial voting base that the President similarly tried to safeguard during his 2018 trade war with China.
While the President has not announced any details of an aid package, his advisers have signalled in recent days that he could follow a playbook similar to the one he used in his first term, when he directed billions in payments to farmers who saw their exports to China plummet amid a trade war with Beijing.
Such a rescue package ultimately proved expensive, with the government shelling out about $23 billion after China imposed high retaliatory duties on soybeans, corn, wheat and other American imports beginning in 2018. That money came from a fund at the US department of agriculture, a portion of which can be used to respond to emergencies, including trade disputes.
Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said last week that the administration may look to offer emergency aid to farmers, telling reporters that Trump had asked her to “have some programmes in place that would potentially mitigate any economic catastrophes that could happen” in a global trade standoff.
But the price tag this time could prove even higher, since Trump has threatened to target many countries, including American allies like Europe, Canada, Mexico and Japan. The potential scope of their collective retribution could inflict deeper, more lasting harm on American businesses.
“That could really lead to big demands in terms of trying to help farmers,” said Joseph Glauber, a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute who previously served as the chief economist for the USDA.
Administration officials have discussed the early contours of a possible farmer bailout with industry lobbying groups and Republican congressional offices, according to four people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the talks. They have raised a few potential mechanisms for providing the funds, some of which may require legislation, the people said, cautioning that the conversations were in early stages because Trump has not yet finalised his trade strategy.
But an expensive federal bailout threatens to cut deeply into one of Trump’s signature reasons for pursuing protectionist policies in the first place: a desire to rake in “lots of money”, as the President himself has said. Trump and his Republican allies say the new tariffs could help pay for their still-forming plan to expand and extend a set of expiring tax cuts, which could cost into the trillions of dollars.
“In addition to consumers being impacted by tariffs, now you have taxpayers who are going to be on the hook,” said Alex Durante, a senior economist at the Tax Foundation, a think tank that generally favours lower taxes.
The White House declined to comment, but an official — speaking only on condition of anonymity — said any discussions about tariff aid are preliminary, given the ongoing discussions about Trump’s tariffs and his negotiations with other countries.
The USDA did not respond to a request for comment.
United trade response
China, Japan and South Korea agreed to jointly respond to US tariffs, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday.
The comments came after the three countries held their first economic dialogue in five years on Sunday, seeking to facilitate regional trade as the Asian export powers brace against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Japan and South Korea are seeking to import semiconductor raw materials from China, and China is also interested in purchasing chip products from Japan and South Korea, the account, Yuyuan Tantian, said in a post on Weibo.
All three sides agreed to strengthen supply chain cooperation and engage in more dialogue on export controls, the post said.
New York Times News Service and Reuters