(NewsNation) — Ohio farmer Chris Gibbs believes the state of play for America’s agriculturalists has been negatively affected by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Gibbs said farmers are taking major losses on top of U.S. commodities — like corn, soybeans and wheat — and it is putting them in a “hell of a mess.”
“Farmers don’t have the working capital they need, or the cash flow they need to continue to pay the high expenses that we’re experiencing,” Gibbs said on “Morning in America with Hena Doba.”
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Last week, Trump announced some tariff revenue would go to U.S. farmers, but no details about the amount of aid or how it would be dispersed have been made clear.
Gibbs called Trump’s concept “the most ridiculous thing,” as he and other farmers are already bearing the brunt of tariffs daily and federal checks would only serve to help them break even — if that.
Importers like John Deere pay a tariff on products to the Treasury, and then farmers purchase those at a higher price point due to the levies, he explained.
“Now, the president of the United States is going to take my money and give it back to me and call it a bailout,” he said. “That’s that’s just comical.”
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Gibbs said he believes Trump is “petrified of rural America,” and that the nation’s growers need to stand up in protest of the administration’s ongoing trade troubles.
“We want real trade, we’ve got to move those commodities overseas,” he said. “And we need to do it now.”
