Trump tariffs could fund bailout for US farmers — Agriculture secretary
THE TRUMP administration is drawing up plans to use tariff revenue to fund a program to support US farmers, the Financial Times reported, citing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
“There may be circumstances under which we will be very seriously looking to and announcing a package soon,” Ms. Rollins told the newspaper in an interview.
Ms. Rollins said financing the bailout with “tariff income that is now coming into America” was “absolutely a potential.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The report follows pressure from farm groups after China stopped purchases of soybeans from the US in their tit-for-tat trade dispute, and as tariffs have pushed up costs for fertilizer, machinery and other imported inputs.
Agriculture has emerged as a major point of contention between China and the US as the superpowers are locked in a tariff war launched by President Donald J. Trump. — Reuters
