Trump Threatens Return Of Tariffs

Former President Trump has threatened to use one of the trade tools he is famous for invoking to shape the farm economy. In a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, Trump promised to place tariffs on John Deere products made in Mexico.

Former President Donald Trump: “I love the company, but as you know, they've announced a few days ago that they're going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico. I'm just notifying John Deere right now. If you do that, we're putting a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States, so that if I win, John Deere is going to be paying a 200%.They haven't started it yet. Maybe they haven't even made the final decision yet, but I think they have, John Deere is going to and anybody else that does this because it's hurting our farmers, it's hurting our manufacturing. And if you do that, you're going to have a 200% tariff put on the product that you make in Mexico right across the border.”

Economists agree that the cost of tariffs are paid by both the companies that are importing the goods and the customers who make the final purchases of those products.

In June, John Deere announced it would be moving some production of skid-steer loaders to a plant in Mexico by 2026. 

The Trump Administration levied a series of tariffs on Chinese products in 2018. China then reduced its purchases of American agricultural commodities causing the U.S. price of soybeans to plummet. China did eventually sign the Phase 1 Trade Agreement which guaranteed the purchase of nearly $40 billion worth of U.S. agricultural commodities. While Chinese purchases have exceeded pre-tariff numbers they have yet to achieve the levels agreed to in the agreement. 

For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs

contact: Peter.Tubbs@iowapbs.org