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President Donald Trump said the US would impose tariffs on “external” agricultural products starting on April 2, his latest threat to impose trade barriers on imported goods.
“To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!” the president said Monday in a social media post.
The president did not provide more detail on which products would be affected, or if there would be any exceptions. But the move comes just as US food imports balloon, driving the country’s agriculture trade deficit to a record $49 billion this year, the US Department of Agriculture forecast last week.
Trump announced his latest tariff plan a day before his scheduled to speak to the nation in a primetime address to a joint session of Congress, his first major speech since Inauguration Day. The proposal may offer a preview of how the president plans to defend his tariff plans to the public amid persistent concern about high prices.
Trump’s plan is part of a previously announced effort to enact so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly all US trading partners, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
The US has already imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, and Trump said he would also pursue duties on a wide range of sectors, including automobiles, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber and copper — all in what he said is an effort to protect US industries and boost American manufacturing.
Tariffs on agriculture imports would hit the market for fruit, vegetables and nuts, which have typically accounted for at least half of inbound crop shipments into the country, USDA data showed. Sugar, coffee, cocoa and other tropical products accounted for about 15% of imports.
The US has also been importing used cooking oil from China to make biofuels, something lawmakers have tried to crack down on. Tariffs that could prevent that would be a boom for US-produced soybean oil, with futures traded in Chicago paring earlier losses after Trump’s social media post.
“It’s all speculative at this point, but we could see domestic soybean oil as a beneficiary as used cooking oil out of China and abroad would be targeted,” said Daniel White, a broker at Blue Line Futures. “Canadian canola imports could get hit as well. Coffee and sugar are other agriculture products that could see price increases due to the tariffs.”
Mexico shipped $45.4 billion of agricultural products to the US in 2023, accounting for about 23% of imports and making the country the US’s largest supplier, according to the USDA. Canada and the European Union sent a combined $73 billion in crops to the US.
Trump’s latest threat comes at a precarious time for the US economy, with persistent inflation a chief concern for Americans. Many economists say that higher import taxes will further raise prices, as companies pass along the cost to consumers.
The administration last week announced plans to invest $1 billion in a new strategy to mitigate the impacts of bird flu, which has raised egg prices and slowed milk production across the US — a key driver of inflation. The plan includes importing between 70 million and 100 million eggs during the next month or two.
Still, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins defended Trump’s plans to use tariffs to protect US farm interests.
“His idea of using tariffs in his tool kit has proven very successful the first time. I have no doubt it will be successful again,” Rollins told reporters last week at the White House.
The president also announced Monday that 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico will begin Tuesday. Those, as well as an additional 10% levy on China, are an effort to force the three countries — the largest US trading partners — to crack down on illegal fentanyl and migration.
“I really don’t know how raising tariffs would help the US corn and soybean farmer unless tariffs produced a new Phase 1 deal like Trump signed with China in 2020,” said Dan Basse, president of consultants AgResource Co. “Such a deal would completely change the US ag outlook from bearish to bullish, but seems to be a ways off, if at all possible as China diversified suppliers in the past four years.”
–With assistance from Isis Almeida.
(Updates with details throughout.)
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