COLFAX, IA – As U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins toured Iowa agricultural facilities Monday, she said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is prepared to support farmers while tariffs go into place.
President Donald Trump announced plans Sunday to impose “reciprocal tariffs” on countries that have their own tariffs set on U.S. products, set to officially roll out April 2. While earlier statements from members of the Trump administration said the tariffs focus on 10 to 15 countries with large trade imbalances, the president said Sunday the tariffs will encompass all countries that charge fees for U.S. exports.
Iowans in agriculture have expressed concerns about Trump’s original plan — later delayed — to enact 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Some farmers said the move could hurt Iowa, as the state’s pork and corn industries are heavily tied to the countries. A spokesperson for the White House has confirmed that the tariffs will not contain exemptions for farmers.
Speaking with reporters at Beck’s Hybrids, a retail seed company in Colfax, Iowa, Rollins tried to assuage concerns about the tariffs’ impact on agriculture. She said the Trump administration and USDA plan to aid farmers from potential economic fallout using similar strategies as in 2018, when a U.S.-China trade war during Trump’s first term led to an estimated $27 billion in U.S. agricultural export losses.
“Hopefully our farmers and our ag community won’t be hurt by — at least in the short term — by these decisions,” Rollins said. “But if they are, the president’s commitment is the same today as it was five or six years ago. And we at USDA and our partners across Congress and in Washington will work around the clock to ensure that we have the programs in place to do what we did the last time with the (Commodity Credit Corporation), and we fully expect to do the same this time, but to be determined based on what happens in the next weeks and month.”
Farmers received $23 billion in federal assistance during Trump’s first term
The USDA provided farmers more than $23 billion in federal subsidies during Trump’s first term to help offset the economic impacts of tariffs. While Rollins said at an earlier stop in Waukee, Iowa, that “we don’t have quite the funds we had back then,” according to the Des Moines Register, she also said there was other work being done by the Trump administration to expand U.S. agriculture’s international market presence.
U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who joined Rollins alongside Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig in Colfax, said she and other Iowa officials were “very pleased” by Rollins’ commitment to go on trade missions in coming months.
“We have not seen that the past four years,” Miller-Meeks said, comparing Rollins’ approach to efforts under the Biden administration. “Six countries and six months, I think it is — because we know we need to open up more markets.”
Rollins plans to visit Vietnam, Japan, India, Peru, Brazil, and the United Kingdom in 2025.
While the agriculture secretary said tariffs are one part of Trump’s “tool kit to realign the American economy,” another component was the reduction in force happening across the federal government — including roughly 6,000 at the USDA. Rollins said she supported the effort as a way to make government more efficient and put more economic focus on “expanding the private sector, on lifting up free enterprise, on reshoring American jobs.”
“The vision isn’t that we’re putting a lot of people out of work,” Rollins said. “The vision is that we’re realigning our entire economy, where the private sector and free enterprise is driving those jobs, rather than bigger and bigger government.”
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Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
