Tariffs Require $12 Billion in Handouts to Farmers… Again

Seven years ago, after sandbagging the farm economy with reckless tariffs, Donald Trump partially compensated farmers by handing out $12 billion in government aid:

The Trump administration is coming to the aid of farmers hurt by its own hard-line trade policies, announcing Tuesday that it will make an estimated $12 billion in government assistance available, including direct payments to growers.

The money comes after farmers, especially soybean growers, have felt the brunt of retaliatory tariffs placed on agriculture by China and other nations that the Trump administration has penalized with tariffs on imports.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the aid in a call to reporters, saying the programs “are a firm statement that other nations cannot bully our agricultural producers to force the United States to cave in”

…Officials say they will be using a Depression-era program, the Commodity Credit Corporation, to secure money from the U.S. Treasury and will not need to ask Congress for the funds [Brian Naylor, “Trump Administration Plans $12 Billion in Farm Aid to Offset Tariffs,” NPR: All Things Considered, 2018.07.24].

Rational and attentive policymakers would learn from their mistakes. Donald Trump—and, apparently, his rural voters, learn nothing. Here we are seven years later in exactly the same fix announcing exactly the same welfare checks to farmers:

The Trump administration announced $12 billion in one-time payments to farmers in the wake of this year’s tariff hikes on Monday, primarily targeting farmers who grow crops such as soybeans and corn.

The move was outlined during a White House roundtable event, featuring farmers affected as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

…The White House is calling the new policy the Farm Bridge Assistance program, saying it is intended to support farmers until Trump’s economic policies, such as lowering some taxes and imposing stiff tariffs, take greater effect.

…The money will be coming from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, which Trump also used to give farmers economic aid in his first term [Daniellee Kurtzleben, “Trump Administration Announces $12 Billion in One-Time Payments to Farmers,” NPR, 2025.12.08].

One-time payments? That’s funny: we’re already on round two. And if we don’t elect a Congress that can stop Trump’s economic policies from taking any greater effect, we’ll be making those one-time $12 billion payments every year to farmers who supposedly prefer making honest dollars in open markets over taking welfare checks that still don’t match the losses they suffer from an ego-driven command-and-control economy that they voted for.

Bonus Laugh Line: In his hour-long press ramble yesterday, Donald Trump said of his latest farm bailout, “…this money would not be possible without tariffs.”