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22 March 2019

American Farmers Could Take Another Hit From Trump’s Trade Policies

Kimberly Ann Elliott

American farmers have arguably suffered the greatest collateral damage in President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with China, and things could get even worse. A landmark ruling last month by the World Trade Organization—one of Trump’s favorite targets—should have been good news for American farmers, since it could provide a bit of relief for them from the trade war. But even that small compensation is now likely to be delayed or lost—again because of Trump.

Even if Trump’s trade war with China ends soon, American farmers are going to struggle to regain the markets they once had there. Making matters worse is Trump’s antipathy to the WTO. In late February, the WTO announced that a dispute settlement panel had agreed with the United States that Chinese agricultural subsidies were higher than allowed under international rules. The case was originally brought to the WTO under the Obama administration, in 2016. U.S. trade officials argued that the Chinese government was exceeding the cap on subsidies for wheat, corn and rice that it had agreed to when China joined the WTO. ...

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