WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday announced $12 billion in fresh economic assistance for US farmers grappling with the effects of ongoing trade negotiations with China and others.
“We love our farmers, and as you know, the farmers like me, based on voting trends,” Trump said at the White House, surrounded by farmers.
“They’re great people. They’re the backbone of our country.”
As much as $11 billion will come from a new Department of Agriculture program providing bridge payments by Feb. 28 to farmers of corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, rice, wheat, sunflower, sesame and other row crops.
Trump noted in a White House roundtable event announcing the funding that revenue from his administration’s tariffs will help provide it.
The Farmer Bridge Assistance program is meant to help the farmers “recover from years of unjustified trade actions on American agricultural goods by foreign governments, accumulated inflation costs under the previous administration and other market disruptions,” a White House official said.
“Payments will provide certainty to farmers as they market this year’s harvest and plan for next year’s crops,” the official said.
Another $1 billion will be set aside for crop producers not covered by the program. The pending announcement was first reported by Bloomberg.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and members of Congress joined Trump for the roundtable to announce the funding.
“We are holding $1 billion back just to ensure that we are covering … some specialty crops and others,” Rollins said.
Cordt Holub, a fifth-generation Iowa farmer, told the president that the funding amounted to “Christmas early” and said the bridge payment for row-crop farmers would carry them through the year.
“What you’re doing here in DC is working. You have a backbone to stand up to other countries for trade,” Holub told the president at the event. “You’re getting things done — tax provisions — I’ll potentially be able to pass on a farm to my children because of you.”
The bailout comes amid the president’s trade wars — particularly those involving exports to China — and as farmers are expected to be $28 billion in the red for the 2025-26 crop year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The figure is up from $17 billion the previous year.
In terms of one crucial crop, soybeans, the US exports almost half of its production annually, while China usually takes around one-quarter of the total 29 million metric tons of what’s exported every year. But ongoing talks with Beijing stalled purchases and caused price fluctuations.
The other half of US soybean production is processed for livestock feed, various cooking oils and biofuels such as diesel.
In October, Bessent announced that China had agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of US soybeans this season and 25 million tons annually for each of the next three years as part of a trade agreement.
Trump said Monday that the promised purchases will total $40 billion but could climb higher.
The US in turn said it would lower tariffs on Chinese goods to 47% after threatening up to 100% in additional import duties.
Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies spiked 60% in the first half of this year when compared with 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump will be kicking off a tour in Pennsylvania on Tuesday to tout his administration’s economic successes, even as polls show the president’s favorability on the issue is flagging.
Core inflation is up 2.8% since September of last year, the US Department of Commerce reported Friday, and layoffs have topped 1 million.
There also have been concerns about whether the US is moving toward widening disparities between top earners and the working class.
Those concerns grew with the 2025 off-year elections in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City, where socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani had a winning message of economic “affordability.”
“I think affordability is the greatest con job,” Trump told reporters at the White House last week when asked about a messaging shift on the issue.
Democrats have meanwhile been floating a Make America Affordable Again counter-messaging campaign.
Surging inflation under former President Joe Biden was one of the key issues that propelled Trump to win back the White House in 2024 — and the issue is sure to be a significant factor in the upcoming 2026 midterm congressional elections.
The president has already floated some new proposals — including up to $2,000 tariff rebates, $1,000 “Trump account” savings funds for kids and 50-year mortgages — in preparation.
Tax cuts tucked into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act are also hoped to fuel an economic boom in the coming year, especially through provisions that end taxes on tips.
