Farmers do not need a trade war

As fentanyl continues to ravage communities across the United States, the Trump Administration has taken measures to ensure Canada, Mexico, and China are doing their due diligence to address this crisis. With illicit drugs flowing over the southern border from Mexican cartels, serious security gaps at our northern border, and China manufacturing fentanyl precursors, the tariffs announced by the administration serve as a reminder of the responsibility these nations have in mitigating the crisis.

While the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are on pause until March 4, the threat of retaliatory tariffs looms large for a majority of our agriculture industry. We need to ensure Canada and Mexico continue to work with the United States to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country so that these tariffs remain paused indefinitely — or dropped all together. China must cease incentivizing production of precursor chemicals and stop supplying them to Mexican cartels. Free trade is critical to American consumers, and retaliatory tariffs would start yet another unnecessary trade war that could harm our economy.

Tariffs, when applied appropriately, are a tool to help ensure a level playing field for our exports. They help us leverage our strengths and highlight the importance of American markets to the global economy. But as a farmer from a rural district like Washington’s Fourth, I understand the impact that retaliatory tariffs can have on farmers and ranchers. In 2018, the United States placed tariffs on a variety of imports, but tariffs on steel and aluminum specifically drove our trading partners like Canada, Mexico, China, India, and the European Union to retaliate.

The American agriculture industry bore the brunt of the impacts from the retaliatory tariffs, which ranged from two percent to 140 percent, and the total agricultural export losses associated with retaliatory tariffs surpassed $27 billion. Soybeans took the highest losses, with pork, specialty crops, sorghum, and dairy taking on nearly a quarter of the rest of the losses. While the United States and our trading partners eventually came to an agreement, the lasting impact on producers was devastating.

A trade war with economic partners is the last thing our farmers and ranchers need. High input costs, turbulent markets, inflation, and an outdated Farm Bill are all contributing to trying times on farms across the country. While I believe it is critical to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, I understand the reality that retaliatory actions by Canada, Mexico, and China could inflict further harm on our agriculture industry.

While tariffs, when used strategically, can work to level the playing field with trading partners, we must have these tough negotiations and do all we can to avoid unnecessary harm to our country’s agricultural producers.