WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States would give proceeds from tariff revenues to farmers.
“We’re going to take some of that tariff money and give it to our farmers,” Trump said at the White House.
The U.S. farm economy is slumping this year due to low crop prices and trade disputes. Republican lawmakers have warned that farmers are facing significant losses and have urged the administration to issue aid by the end of the year.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said the administration is weighing an aid program modeled after the approach taken by the previous Trump administration, when farmers were given billions to offset losses from a trade war with China.
Farmers are “for a little while going to be hurt, until it kicks in, the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” Trump said.
“Ultimately, the farmers are going to be making a fortune,” he said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Maiya Keidan and Leah Douglas in Washington, editing by Deepa Babington)
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