Following the initial tariffs that President Donald Trump announced last month to the new ones that were issued earlier this month, other countries have come back with their own tariffs in response, some that hit the agricultural sector.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig tells Raccoon Valley Radio no one should be surprised about President Trump’s use of tariffs after he talked a lot about doing that before he took office in January. However, he questioned how long these tariffs will last because he believes that tariffs are a great short-term tool to help Americans get better deals with other countries, but he sees it as a long-term solution being a potential issue, especially when farmers are hit on both ends of production from tariffs.

“We import things like fertilizer, fuel, equipment, (and) crop protection tools, and so farmers are potentially paying more because of inbound tariffs, and then of course reduced prices because of the challenges around exports and some of the price changes there.”

Sources say China issued an additional tariff put on pork and beef in early April, on top of its already implemented tariff on corn and soybeans. Naig agrees that the US has been mistreated by other countries due to the US not charging as high of tariffs as some other countries do, but that tariffs have been known to work within the ag industry.

“I would remind folks to that, go back to the first Trump Administration where we re-negotiated NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), a good USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), signed trade agreements with Japan and with (South) Korea. We really need to play offense with trade and level the playing field.”  

Naig is hoping that these tariffs on agriculture-related products coming into and going out of the country will not last too long so that farmers can weather the current situation.