AGRICULTURE/CHINA/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A Republican lawmaker wants to change a single word in the Trump administration’s farm aid program saying some soybean growers in Louisiana cannot qualify for the payments designed to offset farmers’ losses from tariffs against China. Representative Ralph Abraham said his bill would allow the $12 billion in farm aid payments to be made based on ‘planted acres’ instead of ‘harvested acres.’ With China not buying U.S. soybeans and storage costs rocketing or silos completely full, some farmers have been forced to let their crops rot in the field. China and other top U.S. trade partners had zeroed in on American farmers with retaliatory tariffs after President Donald Trump imposed duties on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods earlier this year as part of his vow to cut the U.S. trade deficit with China. Beijing slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans in retaliation. That effectively shut down U.S. soybean exports to China, worth around $12 billion last year.”
–Reuters Staff, “Single word keeps some farmers from getting Trump’s aid to offset tariffs,” Reuters, November 27, 2018 3:13 pm