President Trump, America’s farmers want trade, not aid

President Trump OK’d a $12 billion bailout to U.S. farmers on Tuesday to help mitigate the pain they are feeling from lost sales.

The aid, though appreciated, is but a one-time patch to the gaping hole in trade caused by increased tariffs on U.S. goods to China, Mexico, Canada, the European Union, and elsewhere, and will do nothing to reverse course.

What farmers need is for the United States to stop escalating trade wars with its partners and rescind the tariffs.

Farmers want contracts, not compensation.

The tariffs, or taxes, imposed on U.S. grain and beef products are in retaliation to Mr. Trump’s decision to tax goods made elsewhere and imported by U.S. manufacturers, such as steel and aluminum. One goal is for Americans to buy American.

Sonny Perdue, U.S. Ag Secretary, showed farmers on Tuesday the pawn they are being played for when he said the bailout tells our trading partners that they can’t “bully our agricultural producers to force the United States to cave in.”

So it’s a game of one-upmanship.

In a speech Tuesday before Kansas City veterans, Mr. Trump said the tariffs are working and asked farmers to “just be a little patient.”

Early that morning Mr. Trump tweeted, “Remember, we are the ‘piggy bank’ that’s being robbed. All will be Great!”

There was a time that such crowing could pass muster. After World War II, the United States accounted for half of the global economy and held most of the world’s military might.

Today, the U.S. economy accounts for less than 20 percent of the global economy and is equal to that of China.

We no longer carry the big stick, nor should we act like it. Today, partnerships and coalitions set policy, opening up markets and competition. Such changes have not only increased trade for the U.S., but strengthened partnerships critical to our national security. Turning down the road to isolationism will undo such progress in both realms.

The longer U.S. farmers go without their export markets, the sooner those countries will be forced to find other sources. Their people have to eat, after all.

The end result will be a diminished need for U.S. goods.

THE CONCEPT of propping up a market that has no buyer is not only a bad idea, but it is not sustainable. U.S. farmers produce way more than we can consume. Paying them to stockpile their surplus may help with pressing bills, but does nothing to solve the problem long-term. U.S. agricultural exports worldwide are $138.4 billion, with the top three markets in China, Mexico and Canada at about $20 billion each.