Kansas farmers grapple with latest D.C. bailout fiasco. But are there lessons to learn?
U.S. farmers, including those who grow soybeans, are under pressure from various Trump administration policies. (Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images)
Fred’s mother died from cancer. Her brother and sister did too, like their parents. Fred was in treatment; unsurprisingly, he inherited the cancer. Tragically, Fred died one week after his third radiation treatment. The police continue searching for the driver of the bus who, witnesses reported, ran a red light.
Those officers face a more difficult challenge than analysts attempting to explain the crisis that has torpedoed agricultural markets. President Trump and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins eagerly blame farm country’s despair on the Biden economy. They must have flunked history, and the logic of causation. Everyone saw the bus: the Trump tariffs.
“This is a short-term solution. The president promised to have the back of every American farmer and rancher, and he knows the importance of keeping our rural economy strong.”
That wasn’t Rollins. That was former USDA secretary Sonny Perdue seven years ago, unveiling the first $12 billion Trump Trade War bailout. It ballooned to $28 billion in just one year.
“President Trump will not let our farmers be left behind, and it is imperative we do what it takes to help our farmers.” Rollins said while announcing the same amount Dec. 12.
Obviously a fan of the statute requiring preservation of official records and documents, she found it easier to copy than compose.
On cue, Kansas Republicans fell into line, cutting and pasting from the USDA cheerleading. Sen. Roger Marshall called the desperation of the bailout a “big win.” Rep. Tracey Mann proclaimed the dawn of a “golden age.”
Nobody foretold the 1973 Great Grain Robbery. Everybody should have anticipated the discrimination claims leading to the historic civil rights case Pigford v. Glickman. Only those who slept through the first Trump Administration’s trade war couldn’t predict Rollins’ rescue scheme. USDA’s historians — if any survive this administration’s disdain for history — will surely record it as the most stunning policy failure in department history.
It’s not just farmers who should want answers. Every taxpayer has 12 billion reasons to ask the same questions: How did this happen? What are the lessons?
Congress never debated this massive outlay, not holding a single hearing. Kansas Republican lawmakers acquiesced to — even supported — the blunders that prompted it. USDA could have sought public comment but didn’t. The Trump White House dumbfounds when proclaiming it’s “the most transparent administration in history.”
Lesson one: Failed oversight and executive opacity lead to out-of-control spending.
In the first Trump term, Perdue explained his rationale and methodology behind its amount. There was nothing to like about those tariffs and payments, but he did show his work.
Does the 2025 plan cost $12 billion because the 2018 plan did? That’s not an unreasonable conclusion, given that Rollins offered no explanation. The “most transparent administration” fails, again, at transparency.
Lesson two: Accountability and responsibility are essential to sound policy.
Rollins claims “the Trump administration has been working around the clock since January 20th to put American farmers first.” Her announcement included a list of items three times more verbose than the explanation of the compensation program itself.
The attempted rationalization fails: If the policies recited are working, or will, why the bailout?
“The last administration turned a trade surplus under Trump into a deficit,” she said. Actually, the agricultural trade balance went into deficit for the first time in 2019 and stayed negative in 2020. This year, according to her own department’s latest projections, the gap will be 45% higher than last year and the next year.
Nearly one year into office, Rollins still blames the sourness in farm country on the last administration. Why not? The president does the same. He calls “the affordability” a hoax and alleges Biden left a failing economy; in truth it was the world’s strongest. No doubt, if a sink overflows in the USDA women’s room on January 19, 2029, Rollins will pin it on Biden.
Contrary to what the president asserts, tariff revenues are not magically paying the tab for the bailout. The same taxpayer-funded internal USDA facility that has financed farm programs since the New Deal will finance this largess, as it did in 2018 and 2019.
The formula for the “reciprocal tariffs” — a specious concept — is nonsensical. It makes the bar napkin Laffer Curve seem scholarly. With little or no explanation, one day they’re up, then down, or the rationale is absurd: Trump is upset at a Brazilian judge or Canadian TV commercial. He gives more thought to building a ballroom and renovating golf courses.
Lesson three: Policy founded on untruths or deception, guided by mercurial, transactional intent, frequently fails.
USDA will not disburse the bailout until February. Already, some farm groups and farm farm lawmakers are calling for more. “While $12 billion is a lot of money, we very well need to issue more,” Sen. Jerry Moran said. Other Republicans have seconded his view.
Lesson four: Look both ways, another bus may be coming.
Greg Frazier was USDA chief of staff and USTR chief agriculture negotiator. He lives In Kansas City. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.