Grassley: Producers Stuck In The Middle

Producers caught in an escalating U.S.-China trade war are suffering huge losses as commodity prices cave below the cost of production. But one senator sees a silver lining.  Iowa’s Chuck Grassley admits the losses in market share to retaliatory tariffs in China and elsewhere are huge and permanent, and can’t be made up through rescue packages, alone.

“If there is such a package coming through the Commodity Credit Corporation, and if something had to go through the Congress of the United States, I wouldn’t expect it to get through the Congress.  Then you’d be talking about for the existing crop year, I don’t think you’d find a solution long term. And markets are lost already.”

But Grassley says the short-term impact of tariff retaliation could go on for a year or two, raising the question of how long operations can hold on, with or without a rescue package.  USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue says his goal is to roll out a plan by Labor Day.

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