Farm Bureau: Farmers want trade restored instead of aid package

A senior official with the American Farm Bureau Federation on Tuesday said the $12 billion aid package proposed by President Trump is not a bailout, and that farmers would rather have the trade restored.

“It is not a bailout. Farmers did not create this situation,” Farm Bureau Deputy Executive Director Dale Moore said in an interview with Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball on “Rising.”

Moore said farmers were not to blame for the trade fight between the United States and China, which is imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.

“China created it by targeting agriculture over a fight that China and the United States are having on other issues,” Moore said.

“Our members are telling us straight up that ‘we would much rather have the trade restored, have the markets back in place, but we don’t have that option,’ ” he continued.

The Department of Agriculture announced last week that it would offer $12 billion in aid to farmers hurt by tariffs imposed on U.S. products imported to China and a number of other countries.

The tariffs were in response to Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum and Chinese products.

— Julia Manchester