US farmers dread uncertainty over tariffs

A hostess holds a tray of sliced US beef at an event to celebrate its reintroduction to China in Beijing. China Daily/Asia News Network

BEIJING — The tariff sparring makes US farmers feel anxious.

As of April, US exports of pork to China at close to $98 million had grown 4 percent by volume and 14 percent by value, according to the US Meat Export Federation. That growth trend might get reversed, however.

In response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 25 percent tariffs on an estimated $50 billion worth of Chinese goods on June 15, China announced on Saturday that it’s ready to levy a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of US goods, including pork, beef and fish. Trump threatened on Tuesday to impose a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods, in retaliation for China’s decision to raise tariffs on US goods.

For US farmers such as Dave Struthers in Collins, Iowa, this is just like deja vu.

As recently as late May, the Trump administration had put a hold on punitive tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese products. In response, China called off tariffs on US products, including pork and other meats.

Then, in less than a month, the Trump administration started to impose tariffs again. Consequentially, potential tariffs on meat are back on the table, again.

The tariff sparring makes farmers like Struthers feel anxious.

“It gives me a lot of uncertainty as to what the future may hold, because we have never been quite in a situation like this before,” Struthers said. “We know about supply and demand but we have never dealt with tariffs and what it would do to our businesses.”

Struthers produces crops in addition to selling about 5,500 pigs a year. “We already had the price (of pork) go down because of concern over the tariff. Do we continue to raise pigs or do we try to do something else? There are a lot of ifs we don’t have answers for. We don’t have a clue,” he said.

Struthers said that people are going to be hurt by the tariffs. He feels that farmers are basically used as pawns in a big chess game.

“I don’t know if this (strategy) is right or wrong, I just don’t like the fact that we are just doing our business and we suddenly get hurt because they choose us,” he said.