Any farmers care to weigh in about this latest news and the beauty of tariffs in your sector?
Looks like some people at the US Department of Agriculture are about to lose their jobs for providing this false data!
It may be wise to bring back some of those evil illegals for some much needed Ag help. 
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-fa...194004993.html
Agricultural exports lagged imports by $4.97 billion in July, a gap 9% wider than a year earlier and the largest on record for the month. That pushed the sector’s deficit to an unprecedented $33.6 billion for the first seven months of the year, according to data released Monday by the US Department of Agriculture.
The widening farm trade gap this year has been mostly driven by a jump in imports, just as Trump slapped tariffs on other countries in a push to shrink the overall deficit. That further cements a shift that has been building since the president’s first term, with a sector that has long run major trade surpluses becoming a consistent net importer.
Originally Posted by Lucas McCain
I can only speak to cattle personally, and prices are around all time highs, twice what they were before COVID. Looking at the charts, wheat and corn are down since Trump took office, but not a lot, and soybeans are flat.
One of the main reasons why the effect of the tariffs hasn't been as bad as many, including me, thought they would is because foreigners mostly aren't retaliating, like they did when the Smoot Hawley bill was passed in the 1930's. The only ones that really have are China and Brazil. Mexico, Canada, the EU and Colombia threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs, but either never did, or did and then dropped them. Canada still has some in effect, but I don't think they're for agricultural products.
China is the third largest importer of U.S. agricultural products, behind Mexico and Canada, so if things stay like they are now, the American farmer shouldn't get hit too badly.
Please note Trump really went off the charts dumb ass when he imposed 127.2% tariffs on China, which can shut off our supply of rare earth elements and magnets which would cripple our defense and other industries. And when he imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil. The USA has a sizeable trade surplus in goods and services with Brazil.
With the exception of China and Brazil, the foreigners figured if the dumb asses in America were going to shoot themselves in the foot, then, by golly, there's no reason for us to follow in their footsteps. And thank goodness that's what they decided. We don't want another Great Depression on our hands. OK, maybe I'm being a tad dramatic. But U.S. and foreign tariffs and the consequent fall off in trade in the early 1930's did contribute greatly to economic woes.
