News
Pain of trade war goes beyond commodities
The pain of the trade war felt by U.S. farmers isn’t just from sinking commodity futures prices. Michelle Erickson-Jones, co-owner of a Montana cattle ranch, has told the U.S. House Ways & Means subcommittee on trade the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have forced them to abandon grain bin expansion plans because the price of a new grain bin kept going up, “That amounted to a 20% increase from a bin that we had built just a year before.”
She says the final cost of the grain bin is because of the big increase in the cost of domestic steel to match the increased tariffs on imported steel, “There are countless examples in Montana where last summer large portions of the state were on fire. Just imagine the cost of replacing fencing or other equipment with prices increasing by double-digits at a time of record low prices for the agricultural commodities.”
Erickson-Jones is the president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, a board member of the National Association of Wheat Growers and a member of Farmers for Free Trade.
AUDIO: Michelle Erickson-Jones testimony ~
I guess a tariff wall has been built around America….and we are going to pay for it….Nice thinking GOP !!!