SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
What began as a 10% tariff on imports from China is now at 145%. China has responded with levying 125% tariffs on U.S. imports. Here's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Fox Business reporting to China's retaliation.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX BUSINESS")
SCOTT BESSENT: They can raise their tariffs, but so what?
SIMON: China is the largest market for U.S.-grown soybeans. We wanted to hear from farmers. Josh Gackle is a soybean farmer and chairman of the American Soybean Association. He joins us from Kulm, North Dakota. Mr. Gackle, thanks for being back with us.
JOSH GACKLE: Good to be with you again.
SIMON: Will these tariffs hurt you?
GACKLE: I mean, we know from 2018 and '19, there is certainly some short-term impact on commodity prices. So there is - certainly for farmers - concern about how tariffs and how retaliation from China and other countries might impact us. We've seen some of that price come back in the past couple of days, but the volatility and the uncertainty certainly adds to the risk here on our farm.
SIMON: China made an especially large purchase of Brazilian soybeans this week. Are you worried that even after some kind of reconciliation between the U.S. and China, U.S. farmers aren't going to get portions of the Chinese market back?
GACKLE: We've certainly seen that - again, going back to '18 and '19 in the first Trump administration, losing some of that market access to China, and China making investments into Brazil. We haven't gotten all of that back yet.
SIMON: I'm going to guess you've run some of the numbers, at least in your mind. Can you share with us what kind of losses you and other soybean farmers might be looking at?
GACKLE: We're about to put the crop in the ground here in North Dakota. We're two to three weeks away from planting our soybean crop, our corn, barley, wheat. You know, on our balance sheets on our farms, we're seeing the loss right now. And it's maybe $11 a bushel to plant a crop, and we can maybe sell that crop for $9 to $10 a bushel.
SIMON: I mean, that sounds like a total loss - worse than a total loss. I mean, you've mentioned what happened in President Trump's first term when he contended with China, and his administration gave farmers some cash payments to try and help with that hit. Would you like that now?
GACKLE: Well, our preference is for free and open and fair markets. U.S. soybean farmers - and pretty much every commodity, every crop that is grown by farmers in the U.S. - we've spent decades building relationships with countries like China and other countries and building long-term relationships to sell that product. The government assistance in 2018 and '19 - that helped fill the gap, but it didn't - it was more of a Band-Aid solution. It didn't meet what we lost from that long-term market access. And in the meantime, China and other countries start to build relationships and trading relationships with our competitors as U.S. farmers. So I'm hoping for some quick negotiations between the U.S. and China and other countries so that farmers can continue to have access to those important markets.
SIMON: President Trump has dismissed worries about his trade policies as people just getting yippy. I wonder how you feel about that.
GACKLE: Well, the - it is concerning for a farmer in North Dakota and for farmers across the country. We are family farms. We are an important part of the economy in rural America. When farmers are struggling in their small towns and in their small communities, there's a ripple effect. So it's not just about me, but it's the community that I grew up in, the community that I farm in, where I have a business. And the ancillary businesses that are attached to the farm economy here in rural America would struggle, as well.
SIMON: You have a third-generation farm there in Kulm. You have nieces and nephews who work on the farm. Do you want them to go into the farming business?
GACKLE: I - you know, it's a - this is the farm that I grew up on, and I certainly would hope for that opportunity and hope that this is a long-lasting family farm here in North Dakota. And it's not just me. There's other farmers and neighbors around me that are that are hoping for the same thing.
SIMON: Josh Gackle is chairman of the American Soybean Association and a soybean farmer. Thanks so much for speaking with us today.
GACKLE: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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