United States President Donald Trump announced that the government will be doling out a US$12 billion aid package to farmers affected by ongoing trade wars resulting from tariffs.
Trump said the funds will come from U.S. tariff revenues.
Up to US$11 billion of the funds will go to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s new Farmer Bridge Assistance program to provide one-time payments to row crop farmers.
The other US$1 billion will be reserved as the USDA evaluates changing market conditions.
“We looked at how they were hurt, to what extent they were hurt,” Trump said during a roundtable event at the White House.
The president was joined at the event by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, as well as members of Congress and farmers who raise cattle and grow corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, rice, wheat and potatoes.
However, Democratic lawmakers have remained sceptical of the announcement.
“Instead of proposing government handouts, Donald Trump should end his destructive tariff spree so American farmers can compete and win on a level playing field,” Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the Senate Finance Committee’s top-ranking Democrat, said in a statement.
“Republicans should act immediately to end the trade war, cut taxes on Americans, and save taxpayers' money.”
This comes as those in the U.S. agricultural industry said they were suffering as a result of the trade war, especially due to conflicts with China.
Soybeans were once the biggest U.S. export to China prior to Trump taking office in 2017, with China buying US$13.8 billion worth of the staple in 2016.
After Trump took office, the trade war began, and China largely held off buying U.S. crops, costing American farmers billions of dollars in lost exports.
China started buying some soybeans again after China and the U.S. made a tentative trade truce where tariffs were lowered.
Bessent said China is on track to meet its projected purchase of 12 million metric tons of soybeans by the end of February and would buy at least 25 million tons in each of the next three years.
China bought nearly 27 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in 2024.
