Remarks by President Trump on Supporting America’s Farmers and Ranchers | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

White House Roosevelt Room  •  Washington D.C.  •  May 23  •  3:41 P.M. EDT
    THE PRESIDENT: Okay, well, thank you very much. Great honor to be here with some of the most incredible people in our country - people that have been with me from the beginning and I've been with them from the absolute beginning. The relationship has been very good.

    So we're here with the vital action support for the American farmers: people that we love; people that have been going for a long time and they've done really well, and they have ups and they have downs. It's a wild business, but you wouldn't trade it for anything. I know that, right? I know that, a hundred percent.

    We're grateful to be joined by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. Sonny, thank you very much. Sonny, great job. Come here.

    Thanks also to Representatives G.T. Thompson. Thank you. Thank you very much. Lloyd Smucker and Mike Conway. Thank you, fellas. Appreciate it very much. Been very helpful. Along with Missouri Agricultural Director Chris Chinn. Thank you, Chris. Great job.

    Also with us today are several of our nation's greatest farmers, including American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall. Zippy. Oh, Zippy has been so good to me. Thank you, Zippy. I appreciate it very much. Along with members of the farm groups representing producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, and pork.

    For years, our politicians have allowed other countries to steal our jobs, punish our workers, and target American industry and American agriculture. I can't say this is just the Democrats, but, in particular, the Democrats have done absolutely nothing about this.

    From the year 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization - which was, by the way, a disaster - until the year 2016, the United States lost more than 60,000 factories and millions and millions of jobs. China imposed massive barriers to American farm products - you people know that very well, right? - very well - and engaged in the theft of trade secrets from American agri-business.

    We racked up nearly $4 trillion in trade deficits in goods with China during those years. And the numbers are absolutely astounding - what's been happening over the last 10 years in particular. But you go back 30 years and you wouldn't even believe it.

    This was a massive transfer of wealth from the United States to China, financing China's infrastructure, commerce, technology, and military. And you've heard me say it many, many times before: We helped rebuild China.

    You've also heard me say I don't blame the Chinese. I blame the people that were standing right here before me and their representatives to allow that to happen, to allow China to get along and be able to do that. And they did it like nobody else has ever done it before. And you know the United States has been taken advantage of for many years by many countries, but nobody has done it like China.

    To end these chronic trading abuses, my administration took necessary and very lawful action to protect America's economy, security, and farms. We're taking swift action to remedy all of the injustice that's been done over the years - in particular, you could say with our farmers. They're patriots. They stood up and they were with me. They didn't say, "Oh, you shouldn't do this because we're going to have a bad year." Because they've had 20 bad years, if you really look. You take a look at those charts way back - longer than that. It's just been a steady spiral down.


    So we will ensure that our farmers get the relief they need and very, very quickly. It's a good time to be a farmer; we're going to make sure of that.

    So, today, I'm announcing that I have directed Secretary Perdue to provide $16 billion in assistance to America's farmers and ranchers. It all comes from China. We'll be taking in, over a period of time, hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs and charges to China. And our farmers will be greatly helped. We want to get them back to the point where they would have had if they had a good year.

    This support for farmers will be paid for by the billions of dollars our Treasury takes in. We'll be taking in - depending on what period of time we're talking - many billions of dollars. Far more than the $16 billion that we're talking about. But the $16 billion in funds will help keep our cherished farms thriving and make clear that no country has veto on America's economic and national security. Can't let that happen ever.

    And if you remember, not so long ago, during the time of our negotiation - and China broke the deal with us, and that's okay. That's fine. But during that time of negotiation, if everyone remembers, we had periods where China would target our farms, right? They would actually target. They took a - an ad in a newspaper from Iowa - big ad - saying lots of bad things about the administration, about the fact that we're negotiating too tough; we're not going to make a deal.

    But they steal intellectual property by the billions. Somebody estimated it at $300 billion. Nobody knows how you estimate it but somebody does. They say $300 billion a year in theft - intellectual property theft. So we can't let that happen.

    Our economy is booming. Our nation is prospering. And now is the time to insist on fair and reciprocal trade for our workers and for our farmers.

    I remain hopeful that, at some point, we'll probably get together with China. If it happens, great. If it doesn't happen, that's fine. That's absolutely fine. And I look forward - I'll be seeing President Xi at the G20, very shortly. Many of you are going to be there, many of the media present - you'll be at the meeting. And we look forward to that.

    But in the meantime - and maybe for a long time - I appreciate the incredible bipartisan support that my administration has had on trade and trade policy, especially as it pertains to placing very massive tariffs on China. And just so you understand: These tariffs are paid for largely by China. A lot of people like to say by "us." In fact, Larry Kudlow was quoted but they didn't have the second part of his quote, which was a very good quote. China subsidizes a lot of businesses. And China came out, and, in subsidizing the business, they pay for a big portion of that tax.

    But right now, a lot of companies are moving out of China because of the tax. They're moving to non-tariffed countries. So it's a bad thing for China. We don't want that, but that's just the way it works out.

    But we're taking in tremendous amounts of tariffs. And you don't have to pay, by the way, tariffs for companies when they move into the United States. You move to the United States; it's very simple business: There are no tariffs to pay. And many companies are already plan - and planning to move back to the United States, or to move to the United States for the first time so they don't have to pay the 25 percent tariff. But they're moving to Vietnam; they're moving to other places. But we'll get plenty of them.

    Our country must maintain a united front to achieve maximum results for our people. Very simple. For years, farm income has declined. And we're talking about many years. This year, however - and I was a little surprised to see this because I know that there's been really a trade attack on our great farmers. Net farm income, because our economy is doing so well, is forecast to be nearly $8 billion higher than in 2016. Did you know that? You're doing better than you were doing in 2016. Nobody told me that. But that's because our economy has been so strong. Our economy is about as good as it's ever been, maybe better than it's ever been.


    And the agricultural exports are expected to be $10 billion more than in 2016. It's not bad. You've done a good job. Huh? We both have. We all have. The farmers have.

    So we're fixing broken trade deals to open up markets for American exports, including with the brand new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, an agreement that the Democrats in Congress, many are supporting, I must say. They've told us they're supporting it regardless of leadership. I don't think Nancy Pelosi understands the deal. It's too complicated. But it's not a complicated deal. It's actually not a complicated deal.

    It's a deal that's going to be many, many times better than NAFTA. I consider NAFTA to be one of the worst trade deals ever made in the history of our country. I think the World Trade Organization, Larry Kudlow, may be even worse. It may be even worse because of what it's done with respect to trade and international trade, and trade with China - what it's done for China and how much money our country has been losing to China every year. So, World Trade Organization has been really bad, but the NAFTA has been one of - one of the worst deals ever made in trade.

    Just last week, we reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico to lift major tariffs on American agriculture, and we opened up the beef exports with Japan. Did you know that? Right? That's a big deal. So we opened it up with Japan. First time ever. So, beef is now going to be starting to flow to Japan. And our folks that do beef, they are very much happy. They were shocked to see that one, but it's happening. It's happening fast.

    And I think things, probably, are going to happen with China fast because I can't imagine that they can be thrilled with thousands of companies leaving their shores for other places.

    We're saving our farmers and ranchers from ridiculous regulations also, and we're - as of next week, we're signing some additional voiding of some really dumb regulations, Sonny, that will make farming a lot easier, a lot better. And one of the regulations we did, Waters of the United States rule - it sounds beautiful, but once you open the document, it's a total catastrophe. And you know that better than anybody. I got rid of it. I terminated it. It's got a beautiful title. Everything inside is a disaster for our farmers and, actually, for our country.

    We're ensuring that ethanol remains a vital part of America's energy future, and we increased it to E15. And that's tremendous for, in particular, for the most part, our corn farmers, for corn. And the people in Iowa and lots of other places are very happy. I just did it recently, and I made a promise during the campaign that I was going to do it. And I don't know if it had an impact, but I won Iowa by a lot. And perhaps it did; perhaps it didn't. I don't really care. It's the right thing to do. So you're going to be at E15, which is something, I think, you've been waiting for, for a long time.

    And we're going to also make that available year around. They had it for a period of eight months; now we're going to make year around. That was a ridiculous rule.

    We're fighting for rural broadband, improving rural healthcare, and bringing new prosperity to distressed rural communities through Opportunity Zones. Opportunity Zones - Tim Scott and I and others have worked so hard on Opportunity Zones. They're really working, far greater than anyone thought, including me.

    People are coming in, they're investing large amounts of money in places that they would have never invested before - inner-city locations and others. And it's been incredible. It's one of the reasons our African American unemployment is the lowest ever. Hispanic, Asian, the lowest ever. We have the lowest unemployment rates ever.

    And we have today - literally today - I just saw another report; it's been this way for a while - the most people working in the history of our country, working today. So that's really great.

    Mike, I mean, if you look at that, that's pretty good news, right?


    So our nation will always be proud of the unmatched grit and faith and skill of the American farmer. It's my honor to do what we did. I want to thank Sonny Perdue and all of the people that worked so hard on getting this done. It's being implemented right now. Billions of dollars is already flowing into our treasury that we never saw before. We never saw 10 cents from China. China didn't give us anything. Now they're giving us billions. And some of that money is going to go to the farmers to help them out during a period where trade has been very unfair to them.

    So I'm very honored to have done this for you. And I don't consider it a gift at all. It's not a gift.

    You know, in one of the meetings, I talk about it. I've never seen anything like it. About six months ago, I was with the American farmer, and I had about 25 of them in the Cabinet Room. And I said, "Well, you know, maybe what we can do during the trade" - this was in the midst of a big portion of trade with China. In the meantime, China agreed to buy a tremendous amount of soybeans. But this was before that. And they were really going, and they were - as I said, they were advertising and doing a lot of negative things to our farmer.

    And I said, "You know what we'll do? We're going to do a subsidy program. We're going to help you." And one of the farmers looked at me and said, "We don't want subsidy, sir." I said, "What are you talking about, you don't want subsidy? Everybody is asking me for subsidy." Everybody, Sonny, is asking us for money. They don't care what you call it; they all want money. (Laughter.) And they didn't want money.

    He said, "Just give us a flat table. Just give us a level playing field." He said, "We don't want any handouts. We don't want subsidies. We don't want anything, sir. Just give us a level playing field." And I said, "I can't believe you're saying it."

    Literally, I've been with so many different groups. And if I said I'm going to give you subsidy or I'm going to give you money, they jump they're so happy. Your people did not want it. You understand exactly what they talk - you, the potato man.

    MR. MOSS: Yes, I do. (Laughs.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Right? They don't want it. Because nobody can compete with us. Nobody has the equipment we have. Nobody has the skill we have. And I would say nobody has the soil and land we have. Wouldn't you say that?

    So we're giving them a level playing field, and we're helping out a little bit during a time of trade. I don't want to say "war" because I don't think it's a war. It's a war - if it's a war, we're winning it very big. But we're taking in a lot of money. We're going to help out our farmers, and we're giving them that level playing field that's so important.

    So I want to thank all of the farmers for being with us, and I want to thank our great congressmen and senators that have been so fantastic.

    God bless America's farms. God bless our country. And again, thank you, Sonny and Larry, and all of the people that worked so hard on getting this done. We're in a very strong position. Our economy has never been better.

    Okay, thank you all very much.

    Yeah, go ahead.