Trump Says He’ll Use Tariff Surplus to Bail Out Farmers Who Are ‘Going to be Hurt’
President Donald Trump promised Thursday to give surplus tariff money to struggling American farmers, who have been harmed by his trade war.
Trump addressed the farmers’ pain during an Oval Office meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“We’re going to take some of that tariff money that we made, we’re going to give it to our farmers, who are, for a little, going to be hurt until it kicks in — the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” Trump said. “So, we’re going to make sure our farmers are in great shape ’cause we’re taking in a lot of money.”
Trump then repeated a story about finding billions of dollars “on the tariff shelf.”
“We’re finding, the other day, it was very interesting — they found $31 billion,” Trump said.
They said, “Sir,” I said, “You mean positively, right?” They said, “Yeah, 31 more than we knew. We didn’t know where it came from.” I said, “Check the tariff shelf.” They came back the following morning, they said, “You’re right sir, it came from the tariffs. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
So what we’re going to be doing is taking some money from all of the tariff money that we’re taking and we’re going to be distributing it to all of our farmers, until the tariffs kick in to their benefit. which, ultimately, the farmers are going to be making a fortune. But it’s a process that ultimately has to kick in.
CNN reported that “Trade deals many had hoped would quickly emerge after President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on some of the United States’ biggest agricultural customers haven’t come. A farm bailout is no sure thing on Capitol Hill. And farmers — many of whom voted for Trump — say time is running out.”
The report quoted one corn and soybean farmer in Indiana, who said, “It just seems like things have stalled all summer long. We’re always hopeful that those negotiations are moving forward, but yet with harvest here, patience may be running thin.”
Watch the clip above via The White House.
