OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s nearly $200 million decline in agricultural exports in 2017 was driven by President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners, according to a new report.
The state saw its total farm exports drop to $6.4 billion in 2017, which the Nebraska Farm Bureau attributes to decreases in soybean and corn exports. The bureau’s report released Thursday shows that Nebraska’s soybean exports declined by $130 million corn exports dropped by $140 million that year.
Meanwhile, beef and pork exports both increased in 2017, largely because the products weren’t affected by Trump’s trade talks, said Jay Rempe, the bureau’s senior economist.
Rempe said Trump began threatening tariffs in January 2017, which caused a decline in soybean and other commodity prices. China didn’t respond with retaliatory tariffs until May 2018, after Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, he noted.
The findings come as Trump imposed his latest tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods Friday. Beijing vowed retaliatory measures and the escalating trade war put the stock market on track for its worst week of the year.
“These kind of things that happen at the international level directly impact the bottom line of our producers and affect the economics of our communities and our counties,” Rempe said. “And, unfortunately, I think it shows that we could continue to see a downward slide on some of these things.”
Nebraska’s agriculture industry is still recovering from severe flooding in March that inundated farms and prompted evacuation efforts across the state.
Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson said the emergency recovery efforts and the years of low crop prices “certainly puts us in a position where a win on trade could be extremely important.”
Many Republican lawmakers recognize that their constituents are growing frustrated with the trade disputes but say they understand the need for the negotiations.
“This reckoning has to take place with China,” said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who represents many soybean-producing counties in eastern Nebraska in Congress. “Their practices are unfair. It has to take place. Nebraska farmers know that, and yet the disruptions being caused from that are real.”