Heitkamp: Trade War Strikes at Rural Economies

North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp says if President Trump follows through with tariffs on China announced this week China’s retaliation would be “both strong in quantity and gravity.”

The comments come as China indicated it would impose retaliatory trade barriers that are against U.S. goods if the administration follows through with the threat, causing soybean prices to plummet to a nine-year low.

Heitkamp says Trump is “playing chicken” with China by “creating a trade war at farmers’ expense.” Heitkamp continued: “From soybeans to farm equipment to oil, these tariffs threaten to strike at the heart of our job-sustaining industries.” The North Dakota Democrat says U.S. farmers need trade policy that opens markets, not closes them.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa agreed in a separate statement, saying “farming need trade, not aid,” in referring to any programs that would be made available to assist farmers through a trade war.

From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.