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Bustos rips Trump “trade war” in House farm bill debate

Illinois Congresswoman Cheri Bustos criticized President Trump’s trade policy in House farm bill debate Thursday, “Today, at the end of planting season, corn growers and soybean farmers and pork producers all across the Heartland are getting hit in their wallet by the Trump trade war.”

Bustos spoke of a Bloomberg News article saying China has now tripled its purchases of soybeans from Russia while canceling several soybean shipments from the U.S.,

“It says ‘China buys record amount of soybeans as it shuns U.S. growers.’ The fact is our farmers have been struggling in a tight market with low profit margins.”

Bustos says Illinois, if it were its own country, would be the fourth largest producer of soybeans in the world…

“As planting season is wrapping up, our farmers are making a lot of tough decisions. That’s because in Illinois and many of our neighboring states our soybean farmers sell about one-quarter of their crops to China.”

A vote on the House Farm Bill could come Friday.