A roundtable event at the White House on Monday will address economic assistance to farmers affected by tariffs and other factors.
President Donald Trump plans to announce on Dec. 8 a $12 billion economic assistance package for farmers, according to a White House official.
The Trump administration has been embroiled in a trade war with China, in which both nations have exchanged tariffs on each other’s exports. It has resulted in some U.S. farmers struggling to sell their crops as Beijing pulled back purchases of products such as American soybeans this year and bought from other markets and nations, including Argentina.
Trump is hosting a roundtable at the White House on Monday afternoon to discuss his economic aid package for American farmers, a senior White House official told The Epoch Times.
The president will be joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, members of Congress, and farmers from the corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, rice, cattle, wheat, and potato industries, the official said.
Up to $11 billion of the total aid package will go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program, which will offer one-time, targeted bridge payments to row crop farmers recovering from trade actions on American agriculture by foreign governments, preexisting inflation, and various market disruptions, the official added.
The remaining $1 billion will be dedicated to crops not included in the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, and the USDA will make final determinations based on market conditions.
“President Trump is helping our agriculture industry by negotiating new trade deals to open new export markets for our farmers and boosting the farm safety net for the first time in a decade,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement reflects the President’s commitment to helping our farmers, who will have the support they need to bridge the gap between Biden’s failures and the President’s successful policies taking effect.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
By Jacob Burg
