Farmers Bracing for Potential Impact of Tariffs

U.S. farmers could be the targets of retaliatory tariffs as the Trump administration readies to roll out reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday. The details of Wednesday's tariffs are still unclear, but farmers like Chuck Sayre in Ohio fear the potential fallout.

"This round of tariffs is really going to hurt," Sayre said.

Sayre spoke with us last month and is among the many farmers worried given the industry's reliance on imported goods — like fertilizer.

Sina Golara studies supply chains. "So, if tariffs raise the cost of imported fertilizer, overnight your production gets more expensive, and you have to pass those costs to the consumer," Golara said.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hinted the government could step in to assist farmers like it did in 2018 when President Trump's trade war with China sparked retaliatory tariffs targeting American farmers. The USDA ended up paying $23 billion to farmers who suffered from lost business then.

But that runs a risk too, according to Tom Vilsack, the former U.S. agriculture secretary under Presidents Obama and Biden. "The reality is that as farmers receive this help and assistance, market share is being lost," he said. "Which is why farmers would prefer keeping the market as opposed to getting a payment."

The agricultural industry will get a better sense of the full impact when President Trump announces the tariffs in a Rose Garden event Wednesday.