President Trump on Wednesday sought to allay rising anxiety among farmers about the impact of his trade war with China, promising over Twitter to bolster sales of their products but acknowledging it could take a while.
“I will open things up, better than ever before, but it can’t go too quickly,” Trump said in a pair of tweets sent from Brussels, where he is attending a gathering of NATO leaders. “I am fighting for a level playing field for our farmers, and will win!”
His attempt at reassurance came a day after he escalated his trade war with China, identifying an added $200 billion in Chinese products that he intends to hit with import tariffs. The move made good on the president’s threat to respond to China’s retaliation for the initial U.S. tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods, which went into effect on Friday.
The fallout has been acutely felt by soybean producers and other agricultural sectors in the Midwest — prompting even some members of Trump’s own party to voice alarm.
“I’m very, very nervous about it, and my constituents are very, very nervous about it,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday morning shortly before Trump sent his tweets from overseas.
Grassley said the Trump administration tariff fight has “a very detrimental effect on current markets” and that the impact is rippling through other industries in his state beyond agriculture.
“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Grassley said of Trump. “It’s making people nervous.”
Trump’s comments on Twitter also come as Vice President Pence is scheduled to spend a day in three Midwestern states. Part of his agenda Wednesday will be to reassure supporters that the administration is aware of their concerns.
In his tweets, Trump argued that farmers had been doing poorly long before he was elected. “Other countries’ trade barriers and tariffs have been destroying their businesses,” he wrote.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
