China tariffs hurt American farmers: Union head

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - The head of a major American farmers’ association criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy against China and said the future of the country as a reliable trading partner is at stake.

"Trade policy is not a game -- it has real and serious consequences for rural America," President of the National Farmers Union Roger Johnson told Bloomberg on Thursday.

His critique comes as Trump abruptly imposed an additional 10% tariffs on Chinese goods on top of the existing 25% tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports.

Johnson said Trump has been hurting a large part of his own voter base with the tariffs.

"Immediately after President Trump tweeted his tariff threats, already low commodity prices slipped yet again, but the long-term implications for our country's reputation as a reliable trading partner are likely to be even more damaging," said Johnson.

"It may take President Trump just a few minutes to write 280 characters, but family farmers and ranchers could be dealing with the fallout for decades to come," he said.

Trump's new tariffs eroded optimism of getting a trade deal completed since his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Japan in late June.

China's slow but effective countermeasures such as canceling its biggest ever U.S. pork purchase on Thursday are expected to further destabilize an already hurting agricultural sector and commodity markets in both countries.

Meetings this week with U.S. trade delegation and China bore no fruit but the sides promised to talk face-to-face again in September.

Trump, blaming Democrats and previous administrations for signing "broken" and "terrible" international agreements and trade deals at the expense of American interests, is expected to mount tariff pressure on China and several other countries as part of his 2020 presidential election campaign.