| | | White House to Extend $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers Hurt by Trade War
By Jack Crowe
July 24, 2018 11:36 AM
 President Trump speaks during a news conference following his summit with Russian President Putin in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. (Grigory Dukor/Reuters) The White House is expected to announce a plan to provide $12 billion in government aid to farmers harmed by the administration’s multi-front trade war, the Washington Post first reported Tuesday morning.
Under the plan, which could be announced as soon as Tuesday, farmers whose products have been hit with retaliatory tariffs as a result of President Trump’s tariffs on other countries will be provided access to three distinct forms of aid: direct assistance, a food-purchase program and a trade-promotion program.
The announcement is expected to come as President Trump continues to escalate his protectionist rhetoric on U.S. trade with China.
The administration has already implemented tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese exports and Beijing has retaliated in kind, down to the dollar. In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to implement tariffs on the entirety of China’s more than $5 billion export market, placing Beijing at a distinct disadvantage, given that it only has roughly $120 billion in U.S. exports available to hit with tariffs.
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Soybean farmers have been hit particularly hard by the trade war as prices have plummeted. The president has repeatedly vowed to help soften the blow as Midwestern farmers, a key part of his base, have increasingly turned against his protectionism.
Comments
The aid proposal, which relies in part on a depression-era Department of Agriculture program designed to bail out farmers, is the product of a three-month research effort intended to help the administration see its trade war through by warding off domestic opposition in the farming community.
The depression-era program, known as the Commodity Credit Corporation, is empowered to borrow $30 billion from the Treasury Department absent Congressional approval.
Jack Crowe — Jack Crowe is a news writer at National Review Online.
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