LaVon and Craig Griffieon on their farm close to Ankeny, Iowa.
Grant Gerlock/for NPR
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Grant Gerlock/for NPR
LaVon and Craig Griffieon on their farm close to Ankeny, Iowa.
Grant Gerlock/for NPR
The U.S. exports billions of {dollars} price of agricultural merchandise annually — issues like soybeans, corn and pork. And during the last month, these exports have been caught up in a commerce battle and topic to monumental retaliatory tariffs.
U.S. farmers have been collateral harm in a commerce battle earlier than. In 2018, President Trump put tariffs on a bunch of Chinese language merchandise together with flatscreen TVs, medical units and batteries. The concept was that the tariffs would make these Chinese language merchandise dearer so folks within the U.S. would purchase fewer of them and possibly purchase extra American items as a substitute.
However China matched these tariffs with retaliatory tariffs of their very own. They put tariffs on plenty of U.S. agricultural merchandise they’d been shopping for, like soybeans, sorghum, and livestock. That alternative regarded strategic. Hitting these merchandise with tariffs damage Trump’s voter base and may assist China in a negotiation. And in some circumstances, China may discover inexpensive different choices from different international locations.
As we speak on the present, what occurred in 2018, how the federal government stepped in to stop U.S. farms from going bankrupt, and what was misplaced even after the commerce battle ended.
This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Robert Rodriguez and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our government producer.
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Music: NPR Supply Audio – “Down the Rabbit Gap,” “Make Mine a Double,” and “Sorority.”
