MADISON, Wis. — On Dec 6th, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed how Wisconsin farmers, still hurting from Donald Trump’s first trade war, stand to lose billions under Trump’s promise of sky-high tariffs and a new-and-improved trade war with Mexico, Canada, and China.

In his first term, Donald Trump cost U.S. farmers $27 billion in export sales—and America’s agricultural industries still haven’t recovered from his short-sighted trade war. A second Trump trade war would slash dairy exports from the Badger State and force dairies to hike milk prices in order to stay afloat. Wisconsin cannot afford another round of Trump tariffs, and our dairy farmers deserve better than to be used as pawns in Donald Trump’s political games.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In another Trump trade war, farmers could lose billions in export sales
By: Rick Barrett

- If President-elect Donald Trump ignites a trade war with China, Mexico and Canada, many Wisconsin farmers may find themselves caught in the crossfire.
 
- U.S. agriculture hasn’t fully recovered from a trade fight that Trump started in his first administration when he imposed higher tariffs, essentially a tax, on $370 billion in products from China.
 
- The Chinese government retaliated with countervailing tariffs of up to 25% on over $100 billion worth of U.S. products, targeting soybeans, beef, pork, wheat, corn and sorghum. It then turned to Brazil and other countries, rather than the United States, for those commodities.
 
- American farmers lost $27 billion in export sales in 2018 and 2019, largely from the China tariffs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 
- Even now, the share of China’s soybean imports from the U.S. – the top American export to China – has dropped to 18% from 40% in 2016, Reuters reported in November.
 
- With Trump threatening more trade sanctions, farmers could again suffer market losses.
 
- Unintended consequences of trade wars create hardship in rural America that’s already stressed from economic forces beyond its control.
 
- “When farms go out, other businesses close, schools close and churches close, because farmers are the backbone of everything,” said Hinchley, a Democrat.
 
- Over the past 12 months alone, Wisconsin has lost more than 350 dairy herds and is now at fewer than 5,400 herds, the lowest point on record. Since 2019, more than 2,000 dairy farmers have called it quits, according to the state Agriculture Department.
 
- Chinese retaliatory tariffs can have damaging effects with permanent consequences, the American Soybean Association and National Corn Growers Association said in a study evaluating the impact a trade war would have on farmers today.
 
- Trump has said he will impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada.
 
- Proposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China — three main export destinations for U.S. dairy — are likely to reduce dairy exports to a degree that would harm farm milk prices and processor profitability, according to Charles Nicholson, an associate professor of agricultural and applied economics at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 
- Wisconsin farmers have come to rely on exports for selling beef, pork, soybeans, cranberries, cherries, ginseng and dairy products. In another trade war, farmers may once again find themselves at the mercy of federal government programs that act as a safety net when commodities prices fall.