AFBF: Tariffs Will Impact Farming In A Variety Of Ways

Tuesday, March 4, tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports went into effect.  At the same time, the tariff on Chinese imports doubled. Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said these tariffs now cover a significant portion of American agricultural export.

“Mexico's $30 billion a year in our ag exports," Salmonsen noted.  "Canada's $29 [billion].  China's been about $24 [billion]. Add them up, those three countries are half of all U.S. agricultural exports.  The U.S. said they were going to put 25% tariffs on good imports from Mexico, 25% on most things from Canada, and 10% on energy products. And with China, we added 10%.”

He says tariff retaliation includes a large list of U.S. agricultural products.

"From Canada, starting off with a 25% import tariffs on US products going in.  We got poultry and dairy, wheat, barley, rye, a lot of grains.  China also has a retaliation list.  This will go into effect on March 10 for chicken, wheat, corn and cotton, 15%, and then 10% tariffs on soybeans and sorghum and pork and beef and fruit and veggies, dairy products.”

Salmonsen said there are still some possibilities of negotiations on exclusions for agricultural products.

“Now these tariffs so far, other than a lower tariff on Canadian energy products, but there really haven't been exclusions. Over 85% of our potash comes from Canada.  We don't want that subjected to a 25% tariff that the U.S. put on it.  Why don't you exclude that?  If this lasts any length of time, the pressure on doing exclusions will certainly rise.”

For more information on tariffs, visit the Farm Bureau's Website.

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