A day after President Trump scoffed at wheat exports to Japan — “They don’t even want our wheat,” he said — U.S. wheat growers called out the president for maligning an important trade relationship. It was one of the first times farmers have talked back to Trump since they helped elect him to office.
“They don’t buy our wheat because ‘they want us to feel okay.’ They buy it because it’s the highest-quality wheat in the world,” said the National Association of Wheat Growers on Wednesday in a tweet directed to “Mr. President” that concluded, “That’s not fake news.” The Oregon Wheat Growers League tweeted, “Wheat is important, Mr. President.”
Japan, the fourth-largest market for U.S. farm exports overall, bought one of every 8 bushels of wheat exported in the year that ended on May 31, according to USDA data. Half of Japan’s imported wheat comes from the United States.
Farmers voted for Trump in landslide numbers in 2016 because of his promises of tax reform, regulatory relief, and support for homegrown ethanol. Farm group leaders hoped to persuade him of the value of free trade in agriculture, the source of 20 cents of each $1 in farm income. The trade war has stunted exports, and the EPA is criticized in farm country as favoring the oil industry in biofuel regulations.
Trump spoke lightly of wheat exports while visiting a plastics factory under construction in Pennsylvania and deplored the U.S. trade deficit with Japan. “They send thousands and thousands — millions — of cars. We send them wheat. Wheat,” said the president, evoking laughter in the audience. “That’s not a good deal. And they don’t even want our wheat. They do it because they want us to at least feel that we’re okay.”
By coincidence, the Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday that Trump has asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to buy U.S. farm exports worth several hundred million dollars, including soybeans and wheat, said Reuters. Kyodo cited unnamed officials in both governments as its sources.
While farm groups feel free to criticize the EPA over its handling of ethanol, they have been forgiving about the trade war. Although farm groups have quietly and repeatedly asked for an end to the tariffs that have disrupted exports, they have not spoken in unison or blamed Trump personally. And they have thanked the White House for billions of dollars in Trump tariff payments intended to mitigate the impact of the trade war. So far, the USDA has paid $10 billion in cash to farmers and ranchers for trade losses on 2018 production and is disbursing up to $7.25 billion this summer for 2019 production, with more payments possible.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, a genial and popular member of Trump’s cabinet, drew criticism for telling a joke at a farm show last week that plays on the reputation farmers have as complainers. “What do you call two farmers in a basement?” asked Perdue. “A whine cellar.” The joke, which has circulated in farm circles this summer, drew a scattered mixture of laughter and booing. Perdue, who was taking part in a “listening session,” heard complaints about the trade war, EPA exemptions from the ethanol mandate, low commodity prices, and the reliability of USDA reports.
Agriculture can be a fraught topic for political humor. President Reagan got burned by a joke he told at the officially off-the-record Gridiron Club dinner in March 1985, during the agricultural recession. “I think we should keep the grain and export the farmers,” said Reagan. A South Dakota farm group capitalized on agricultural unrest and sold a bumper sticker that read, “Save the Farm. Export Reagan,” reported the Mitchell Daily Republic.