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Gwen Pepin
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Chicago, IL — As the first of the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada are set to take effect and directly impact our state’s ranchers and farmers, like those in Jacksonville, IL, the Democratic Party of Illinois released the following statement:
“From federal cuts to erratic trade wars, Illinois’s food growers deserve more than the threat Trump poses to their livelihoods. Across the state and in Washington D.C., Democrats are reaffirming our commitment to fighting for farmers.”
Trump isn’t going to make oligarchs pay for his tariffs–hard-working Illinoisans and local farmers will.
Reuters: With Trump’s tariffs, Illinois farmers worry about losing corn sales to Mexico
By: Tom Polansek
- U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from Mexico carry an outsized risk for farmers in Jacksonville, Illinois, as retaliation by Mexico could prompt corn buyers in that country to turn to rival growers in South America.
- Farmers around Jacksonville, a city of about 17,000 people, benefit more than most from Mexican demand. They live near a grain facility that loads corn onto railcars before it travels more than 1,000 miles to livestock producers south of the border.
- Trump’s trade policies and tariffs on China during his first term damaged American farm sales. U.S. farmers never fully recovered the market share they lost for soybean exports when China focused tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods in retaliation for Trump’s levies.
