Struggling farmers call for new bailout as Trump delivers new caps-heavy threat to China

Farmers across the U.S. are bracing for financial ruin from president Donald Trump's tariffs unless taxpayers bail them out.

Extreme weather has already wiped out millions of dollars in crops in recent weeks, and Trump's trade war threatens to cut off markets with China and Mexico for their crops and increase costs for supplies like fertilizer and equipment from those same trade partners, reported The Guardian.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty around, and I hate to be used as a bargaining chip – I am definitely worried,” said Texas farmer Travis Johnson. “I can see how some tariffs might help us compete with Mexico, but are we really getting targeted by every other country or are we on the wrong side of this? We’ve already had two years of absolute disaster with falling prices and weather patterns … no farmer wants this but without a bailout this could be devastating and a lot more people could go under,."

Trump won all but 11 of the nation's farming-dependent counties last year, with an average of 78-percent support, and his vote share rose in those communities despite a trade war in his first term that required a $23 billion taxpayer bailout for farmers in 2018 and 2019.

ALSO READ: 'Retribution or bust’: 'Secretary of Retribution' joins J6 leaders to demand mass arrests

“Another bailout seems inevitable but there are serious questions about how quickly it could be implemented with such a dysfunctional Congress, local USDA offices shuttered and fewer staff," said Ben Lilliston, director of rural strategies and climate change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IAPT). "It’s a very messy situation and farmers are already experiencing harm.”

“The U.S. reputation has taken a huge hit. We can no longer be considered a reliable trading partner which is terrible for farmers,” added Lilliston.

Trump tried to reassure anxious farmers Tuesday in a Truth Social with a defense of his trade war and a reminder of the previous bailout, which he overstated by about $5 billion.

"Our farmers are GREAT, but because of their GREATNESS, they are always put on the Front Line with our adversaries, such as China, whenever there is a Trade negotiation or, in this case, a Trade War," Trump posted. "The same thing happened in my First Term. China was brutal to our Farmers, I these Patriots to just hold on, and a great trade deal was made. I rewarded our farmers with a payment of $28 Billion Dollars, all through the China deal. It was a great transaction for the USA, until Crooked Joe Biden came in and didn’t enforce it. China largely reneged on the deal (although they behaved during the Trump Administration), only buying a portion of what they agreed to buy."

"They had ZERO respect for the Crooked Biden Administration, and who can blame them for that?" he added. "Interestingly, they just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying that they will 'not take possession' of fully committed to aircraft. The USA will PROTECT OUR FARMERS!!!"

In addition to the trade war and climate-related weather disasters, rural communities are also being hit by mass layoffs in the Department of Agriculture, which provides technical help to farmers and extends loans and disaster assistance, that were seemingly recommended by Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk.

“It makes no sense taking billions of dollars off the table for programs that improve long-term farm viability and resilience – and which farmers have been lining up for years for – and then spend billions bringing back farmers from financial collapse,” said Jesse Womack, policy expert at the National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition. “It’s looking really bleak with a lot of pain ahead for farmers.”