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Walz: tariffs don’t benefit farmers

The governor of Minnesota says trade tariffs don’t benefit American farmers.  

“To have fun with this is ridiculous.”

This week, the United States placed 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports, as well as an additional 10% tariff on Chinese products, bringing that rate up to 20%. And retaliation followed.

Tim Walz says reflecting on President Trump’s tariff message to Congress…

“Let’s be very clear: the 2018 tariffs didn’t work. We ended up having to spend $36 billion of subsidies and farmers don’t want those. Farmers want to earn. You know that we produce far more than we use so we need markets. The president doesn’t understand tariffs, in general, but I don’t think he understands the ag economy.”

Walz, a Democrat, says he is hopeful tariffs will be short-lived, because buyers won’t always come back to the United States.

“Our two biggest trading partners in Minnesota are Mexico and Canada, followed by China. And Canadians have said with 90% of the potash coming from Canada, we could expect $8 an acre more in cost. That’s devastating.”

Walz says farmers and agriculture always pay the heaviest price in a trade war.

Hear the interview.