Farmers are angry as Trump's trade war with China causes record losses

Donald Trump’s failure to establish a trade deal with China may prove to be his Achilles’ heel. And we’re not talking about bone spurs. Global stock markets react to each day’s news, and stock prices rise and fall. But Trump’s escalating trade war with China is having a long-term negative effect on at least one sector of the U.S. economy, shrinking profits for farmers for nearly a year.

Trump is still trying to pass himself off as the ultimate deal-maker, even though his deal-making chops were exposed as worthless in the New York Times report that he lost $1 billion in business deals over a decade in the 1980s and 1990s. Trump and his administration keep promising that they’re going to get the best deal for Americans "when the time is right,” possibly when Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in June. Yet ever since Trump started imposing tariffs on imported Chinese goods, and China retaliated in kind, both countries are raising tariffs to higher and higher levels. The U.S. and China are no closer to a trade deal today than they were when Trump first started the tariff war last summer.

How bad is the global situation? Here’s how Vox explained it:

There are signs that things could soon get even worse: The Trump administration is considering upping tariffs on all of China’s remaining imports — about $300 billion worth of products. ...

The two countries aren’t close to striking an accord that would see China modify some of its trade laws in exchange for tariff relief from the US. Second, Washington and Beijing could soon have little to no free trade between them — stunting the global economy and increasing prices for consumers and importers in the U.S.

The lack of a China market is hurting U.S. crops, especially soybeans, corn, and wheat. Instead, China has stepped up soybean purchases from Russia, Canada, and especially Brazil. All the while, U.S. soybean prices continue to plummet. Soybean futures have hit the lowest price levels in a decade. Commodities prices for pork and cotton also are spiraling down.

U.S. farmers have borne the brunt of Trump’s failed strategies. There have been a record number of bankruptcies for Midwest farmers—the number of 2018 farm bankruptcies were twice what they were in 2008. Some farmers are able to survive only by taking second jobs. And despite Trump tweets about how “Patriot farmers” are willing to bear the pain so they’ll gain in the long run, those farmers are not happy with Trump right now.

from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2QdxYk8