Trump administration announces $12 billion tariff relief program
A program of $12 billion will support the farmers who are now bearing the brunt of the trade wars open by president Trump. Tariffs imposed as retaliatory measures by China, Mexico, and Canada have been called illegal by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
"Today we're formally announcing that the Trump administration will be taking several actions to assist farmers in response to the trade damage caused by the illegal retaliatory tariffs that have been imposed on the United States in the past few months. The programs we’re announcing today are a firm statement that other nations cannot bully our agriculture producers to force the United States to cave in", declared Perdue, according to Drovers magazine.
The funds will be channelled through three programs administered by USDA under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act. The programs include a market facilitation program which would result in farmer payments, a food purchase and distribution program which would purchase a surplus of goods going to nutrition programs, and a trade promotion program to provide private sector assistance to new markets.
The relief program doesn't need approval from Congress but taxpayers will see the deficits going higher. According to Perdue, the program's value is "in direct line" with an estimated $11 billion impact that tariffs are having on the agricultural sector.
Payments are expected to roll in September but no one knows how the program will work exactly.
Nevertheless, Jim Wiesemeyer, Pro Farmer’s Washington policy analyst, declared that the funds may not be enough to cover the real losses that American farmers will endure in the future due to president Trump trade tactics. "Those self-inflicted wounds caused some countries, including Japan and others, to invest in agriculture and infrastructure development in Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere, helping Brazil become a major export challenger to the United States", he said.
Since April, US farmers, producers and exporters are facing tariffs ranging from 10% to 62% imposed by China, Mexico and Canada on different agri-food products as retaliation measures to the duties added by Washington on some industrial products.
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