Former president Donald Trump said in a questionnaire released on Thursday that he would use “every tool at my disposal,” including tariffs, to expand U.S. food and ag exports if he is re-elected. Vice President Kamala Harris would not tolerate unfair trade practices from China or other competitors, said senior aides to the Democratic nominee.
Harris will push for immigration law reforms that resolve farm labor shortages and would strengthen crop insurance, said the campaign aides. Trump said his administration would strongly oppose animal welfare laws like California’s Proposition 12. “Improvements must be made to reference prices, crop insurance, dairy margin coverage, and more specialty crop insurance,” he said, when asked about farm policy.
The candidates described their farm and rural policies in response to a questionnaire from the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest U.S. farm group. The Harris campaign sent a four-page letter. The Trump campaign responded question by question.
“When China targeted our farmers, I sent $28 billion [in] relief payments to protect our farmers from Chinese abuses,” said Trump in a reference to the Sino-U.S. trade war when asked how he would expand food and ag trade. “I will always side with farmers in America.” Trump has proposed tariffs of up to 20 percent on imported products and possibly as high as 60 percent on China.
The mushrooming ag trade deficit “plainly results from unfair trade practices abroad,” he said. “I will fight those barriers with every tool at my disposal, and I will make sure that other countries understand the consequences of blocking our farm products.” U.S. exports have slipped in the face of the strong dollar and slow economic growth abroad, while imports have grown by $8 billion a year, driven by Americans’ taste for fresh produce, wine, alcohol, and coffee.
“As vice president, Kamala Harris has stood up to China’s unfair economic practices to protect Americans, including farmers and ranchers,” said the letter by the chair and campaign manager of the Harris campaign. “As president, she will not tolerate unfair trade practices from China or any competitor that undermines American farmers and ranchers.”
Harris and running mate Tim Walz support “an earned pathway to legalization and eventual citizenship for farm and other agricultural workers, in addition to strengthening the H-2A visa program — administered by both Republicans and Democrats for decades — which helps fill seasonal farm jobs with temporary foreign workers,” said the Democratic campaign.
Farm labor is “the biggest limiting factor that American agriculture has,” said Zippy Duvall, Farm Bureau president, at the group’s annual convention, held in Salt Lake City in January. The H-2A guestworker program, which provides seasonal workers, should be revised to allow year-round employment, he said. Half of farmworkers are believed to be undocumented immigrants. Farmers have turned increasingly to the H-2A program.
“Instead of reckless calls for the mass deportation of workers and families deeply rooted in our economy and communities, Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz believe in tough, smart solutions to reform our broken immigration system. This means improving our legal immigration system to function better for our economy, farmers, and workers, and reform that includes both strong border security and an earned path to citizenship,” said the Harris campaign.
The Republican platform calls for the “largest deportation program in American history. … The Republican Party is committed to sending Illegal Aliens back home and removing those who have violated our laws.”
The AFBF questionnaire is available here.
The four-page Harris campaign letter is available here.