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Farmers, businesses speak for legislation to strip President of tariff authority

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland teamed up with farmers, business owners and U.S. Senators to back legislation that would remove the President’s tariff authority.

Delaware Farm Bureau President Richard Wilkins grows crops and livestock, and says on top of farm income dropping 50%, tariffs have dropped soybean values 20% He says, “It’s not just impacting that one commodity, soybeans. It’s not just impacting cherries. It’s not just impacting whiskey. It’s impacting everything in the agricultural economy.”

And, Wilkins says Chinese producers are starting to get protein from other sources, so demand for soybean meal might not fully recover. “They not only have been seeking their supplies from other nations, other competing countries that also grow soybeans, but they’ve also discovered that they don’t need to use as much soybean meal in their rations as they once were.”

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says another example of how tariffs hurts business is Chippewa Valley Bean, where the 160-year-old company competes for the European kidney bean market. “Not only have her prices been incredibly depressed for her to sell any, because she has to make up that difference in tariffs, what’s happening right now is China and Canada are increaseing their plantings while U.S. farmers are having to decrease theirs.”

The Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act was introduced in the Senate and the House, and would return constitutional trade responsibilities to Congress.

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland is an anti-tariff effort supported by members of Farmers for Free Trade and Americans for Free Trade, including more than 100 trade associations.

A study commissioned by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland shows the impact of President Trump’s trade policy on U.S. workers and the economy has been substantial, and will get worse unless tariffs are dropped.