Trump Giving Farmers $12 Billion to Blunt Trade War Fallout
Federal relief money comes after China boycotted American farm products in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.
By Alan Rappeport
Reporting from Washington
Dec. 8, 2025Updated 1:21 p.m. ET
President Trump will roll out a $12 billion bailout for struggling farmers on Monday as he looks to shore up the finances of some of his most loyal supporters whose financial fortunes have been hurt by his trade war.
The rescue package, which is expected to be unveiled at a round table at the White House, is an acknowledgment by the administration that Mr. Trump’s trade policies have had negative consequences for the American agriculture sector. Although his plan to raise tariffs were intended to spur domestic production and open export markets, China — the biggest buyer of American crops such as soybeans — retaliated by halting purchases of U.S. farm products this year.
Most of the relief funds will come from the Agriculture Department’s Farmer Bridge Assistance program. According to the White House, the money will go to corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, rice, cattle, wheat and potato farmers.
The need for the rescue package reflects the limits of Mr. Trump’s trade agenda, which relies on tariffs as leverage to strike new trade deals. American farmers have been warning of the worst crisis since the 1980s as China turned to Brazil, Argentina and other markets for food products.
The White House sought to blame former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for failing to protect American farmers and manufacturers and said that Mr. Trump was doing what was necessary to make global trade more fair.[....]
This is not the first time Mr. Trump has had to send money to farmers hurt by his trade policies. During his first term, Mr. Trump funneled more than $20 billion in economic support to farmers after China boycotted U.S. products in response to Mr. Trump’s tariffs.
As part of a trade deal with China reached during Mr. Trump’s first term, Beijing agreed to buy an additional $200 billion of American farm products. However, after relations with the U.S. deteriorated during the pandemic, China failed to meet those purchase commitments. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China bought only about 83 percent of the U.S. farm products that it had committed to purchasing through 2021.
[....]
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that China used American farmers as a “pawn” in trade negotiations and that the relief money would help them with financing and planning for next year.
“We are going to create this bridge,” Mr. Bessent said on CBS. “Because, again, agriculture is all about the future.”
[what a load crap from the administration's soybean farmer....]
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