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NFU President fears trade war

The National Farmers Union President says President Donald Trump’s negotiating style could trigger a trade war, as he pursues bilateral trade deals with other countries.  “You can’t deal with that, I believe, with a club.  You deal with that by sitting down around the negotiating table and having serious conversations with countries.”  Roger Johnson tells Brownfield countries the U.S. already trades with might stop trade if they don’t like Trump’s terms.

Johnson is glad Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and wants to see the North American Free Trade Agreement re-opened.  Trump’s executive order indicates the administration will pursue one-on-one trade deals instead.

Johnson says if a trade war develops, countries might impose high tariffs on U.S. goods or refuse to buy them.  He says if that happens, farmers and ranchers lose.  “If you enter into a trade war, agriculture is clearly going to get caught in the crosshairs and we’re going to lose markets, and that’s going to be a very bad thing.  That’s going to add to the economic distress that a lot of agriculture is feeling right now.”

Trump wants to re-open NAFTA, but that will take time.  Tension between the U.S. and Mexico following President Trump’s border wall executive order has caused a meeting of the two Presidents to be canceled.

Johnson made his comments at the Wisconsin Farmers Union convention Saturday.