AGRICULTURE/BUSINESS/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump came to a newly revived steel mill here on Thursday to take credit for jobs created by American tariffs against China and other steel exporters. But his triumphal message was muddied by the woes of Midwestern soybean farmers, who have been caught in the crossfire of Mr. Trump’s multifront trade war…Still, the president’s trip to the Midwest on Thursday [7-26-18], which included a stop in Iowa, also cast a light on farmers, whose soybean exports dried up after China struck back over the tariffs. While praising President Xi Jinping as a friend and a ‘great guy,’ he said China was punishing farmers so it could continue its longstanding practice of stealing technology from American companies…Pressure from farmers played a role in Mr. Trump’s decision to call a truce in a trade war with the European Union this week. He hailed the agreement under which it agreed to buy more soybeans — as part of a package that could allow the Europeans to avoid tariffs on automobiles — and offered rare praise for a European leader, Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission. But farmers are not the only ones suffering because of the tariffs. The Mid Continent Nail Corporation in Poplar Bluff, Mo., which ships in steel from Mexico, warns it is on the brink of extinction, after being forced to raise the price of its nails. It has lost half of its orders and has laid off 60 of its 500 workers.”
-Mark Landler, “Trump Crows as a Steel Plant Fires Up, but Tariffs Singe Soybean Farmers,” The New York Times online, July 26, 2018