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OSU professor says changing tariffs means more uncertainty for farmers

An Oklahoma State University professor says changing tariff policy means more uncertainty for farmers.  

Sundresh Heragu with OSU’s Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers tells Brownfield U.S. ag exports are north of 175 billion dollars but margins are tight and farmers are hesitating to invest in their operations. “Farmers are not willing to put a lot of capital in at this point because they want to adopt a wait-and-see approach, of course, they’ve been doing this for the past year, almost.”

Last month the Supreme Court voted 6-3 that many of President Trump’s tariffs lacked authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs.  The President then announced a global tariff of 10 percent under a different law.  That was then raised to 15 percent.  During an appearance on CNBC Wednesday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the 15 percent tariff would likely go into effect sometime this week. 

Heragu says farmers prefer a level playing field in trade, but agriculture is highly protected in many countries, including India, China, Brazil, and Argentina, which offer many subsidies. “Up until Liberation Day, we had some normal level of trade. We were able to export soybean dispite what other countries were doing to subsidize their own markets, but now that soybean trade has gone down by 75% so this is definitely having an impact.”

Heragu says a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s new 15% tariffs creates even more uncertainty.

Heragu says the ideal solution would be no tariff threats and the U.S. not trying to realign supply chains that he says were robust and working well.

AUDIO: OSU’s Sundresh Heragu discusses tariffs, the changing Trump tariff policy after the Supreme Court International Emergency Economic Powers Act decision, and the uncertainty farmers and others see with Brownfield’s Larry Lee