Farmers better buckle up, it's going to get rough
President Trump says he'll put tariffs farmer's exports which Farmers Union president says "makes things worse"
In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump says he plans to place tariffs on the goods farmers export starting April 2.
Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish says farming involves enough uncertainty and this only makes it worse.
"You know, farmers are very used to dealing with weather in the markets to some extent, things that are out of the farmer's control, that we have no control over," says Wertish. "We don't need the government throwing another thing that's all completely out of our control into the mix."
The message posted to
Truth Social on Monday from the president says:
"To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!"
Wertish says Minnesota soybean and corn farmers will be especially hard hit. He says the move also destroys America's reliability as a trading partner with other countries, adding it's simply bad business.
"You know, the big damage is, it's destroying our reliability as a trading partner," Wertish says reacting to the president's post on Monday afternoon. "We signed various trade agreements in the past and if we're not upholding our end of the bargain, it really destroys our reliability as a trading partner and and that's the long term damage."
For American farmers, exports accounted for approximately $178.7 billion in 2023.
"Well, it sounds good, it sounds just great, but at the same time, you know, Minnesota and our farmers, we raise more than we can than we can consume locally," Wertish explains. "The markets just don't appear overnight. That's why we, whether it's crops for livestock, we're raising and growing more than we can consume locally and we rely on export markets. Putting a tariff on the export markets really does hurt farmers.
Wertish explains that farmers see this as a tax, both on exports and imports including things like potash which is a soil nutrient Minnesota farmers mostly get from Canada, and cannot get locally.
He also says blanket tariffs could be enough to push some farms out of business.
"Any damage that we do by losing the markets, it puts further downward pressure on our market that the farmer can get," Wertish says.
