President Trump rolled out a $12 billion farm aid package Monday in an effort to take economic pressure off of the agriculture industry.
“I’m delighted to announce this afternoon that the United States will be taking a small portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars we receive in tariffs,” Trump said, speaking from the White House Cabinet Room alongside a number of Cabinet officials, lawmakers, and farmers.
“What we’re doing is we’re taking a relatively small portion of that, and we’re going to be giving and providing it to our farmers,” he continued, calling farmers “the backbone of our country.”
The aid includes $11 billion in one-time payments to crop farmers as a part of the Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Bridge Assistance program. The remaining $1 billion will go toward crops not covered by the program.
Trump announced the package alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at a White House event attended by soybean, corn, rice, cattle, potato, sorghum, and cotton farmers.
“Today’s announcement reflects the President’s commitment to helping our farmers, who will have the support they need to bridge the gap between Biden’s failures and the President’s successful policies taking effect,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement ahead of the event.
Farmers and rural communities played a significant role in Trump’s election win last year, which the president noted during the announcement.
“We love our farmers and as you know, the farmers love me,” Trump said, pointing to “voting trends.”
According to the Pew Research Center, Trump won 69 percent of the rural vote in 2024.
The package is the latest effort from the administration to aid farmers who have been hit by the administration’s tariffs and decreased crop prices.
“They don’t want aid. They want to just have a level playing field,” Trump said, referring to farmers. “I’ve seen that more with farmers than with anybody else.”
The president blamed former President Biden for farmers’ economic woes during the announcement.
“Our farmers were crushed by the worst inflation in modern history, and crippling restrictions on energy, water, and countless other necessities for farmers,” Trump said, using his nickname “Sleepy Joe Biden.” “What they did to the farmer in terms of putting the breaks on was just absolutely unacceptable.”
Trump also announced that he would move to lift environmental restrictions on companies that manufacture tractors and other large equipment used in agriculture.
“We’re going to also give the tractor companies — John Deere and all of the companies that make the equipment — we’re going to take off a lot of the environmental restrictions they have on machinery. It’s ridiculous,” the president said.
To further aid farmers, Trump announced in October that China agreed to buy soybeans, sorghum, and “other farm products” during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
And Rollins said last week the administration would announce a bridge payment for farmers this week.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that China has kept its word on its end of that agreement but said a short-term bailout was still needed.
“We are going to create this bridge because, again, agriculture is all about the future, you’ve got to start financing for planting next year, when things will be very good,” Bessent said.
Trump sounded optimistic on China’s cooperation going forward, saying at the White House on Monday that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping recently about the issue.
“China, as you know, is buying a tremendous amount of soybeans,” Trump said. “I think he’s going to do even more than he promised to do and what he promised to do is a lot. So we’re very happy with that.”
However, critics argue that the package will likely benefit larger and wealthier farms.
“The Trump administration had an important opportunity to change that but instead chose to send even more money to large and corporate farms and further disadvantage small farms, which are struggling the most under the president’s trade policies,” said Anne Schechinger, midwest director of the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit.
“These bailouts are a direct result of the president’s own trade war with China, which greatly downsized our largest soybean market and is now forcing taxpayers to prop up the biggest players, not the farmers who need help the most,” she continued.
In a memo sent to reporters prior to Trump’s remarks on Monday, the Democratic National Committee referred to the aid package as a “bailout” and a “bandaid.”
“Trump has been clear that he cares more about helping his billionaire buddies than everyday Americans. Farmers don’t want handouts — they want their markets back — and this bailout doesn’t even come close to reversing the damage of Trump’s trade war,” said DNC deputy executive director Libby Schneider.
Updated 4:39 p.m. EST
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