How Trump's tariffs hit many farmers while Biden pushed rural investments

The USDA revised its fiscal 2025 outlook to project an agricultural trade deficit near $49.5 billion.

The Trump administration temporarily cut an escalated tariff rate from 145% to 30% for a 90‑day truce on May 12, 2025. That pause followed months of reciprocal increases and accompanied parallel Chinese reductions.

USDA outlooks for fiscal 2025 showed imports rising toward the $220 billion range while exports were forecast near the $170–173 billion range; those figures moved during subsequent USDA quarterly updates. Use USDA's quarterly trade outlook for the official numbers and revisions.

Emergency farm aid of roughly $28 billion paid in 2018–2020 came through the Market Facilitation Program and related USDA emergency programs. Those payments offset some losses from the 2018–19 trade war.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said 'approximately 85% of our total potash supply is imported from Canada,' highlighting fertilizer vulnerability more precisely than saying fertilizer is '85% imported.'

China and other trading partners applied retaliatory duties targeting roughly $21–22 billion in U.S. agricultural products in 2025, hitting soybeans, pork, beef, cotton and other exports.

Farm groups including the American Farm Bureau warned that additional tariffs would 'take a toll on rural America.' That is a policy position, not a quantitative causal finding.

Public opinion among farmers about tariffs varies by region and commodity. A blanket 70% support figure could not be verified with the sources reviewed and should be treated as unconfirmed.