Republicans in Congress feel rattled about what they say is the lack of a clear outcome or exit strategy for President Trump’s trade war, which they fear will close lucrative markets for wheat, corn, soybeans, pork and other products for their farmers at home.

GOP senators from states such as Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota are bracing for the next phase in Trump’s escalating trade war, which they fear will be a wave of retaliatory tariffs that will hit Americans hard.

Republican lawmakers are warning that senior Trump officials need to have a plan in place to respond to the growing economic turmoil, and the possibility that countries could respond by slapping steep tariffs on American exporters before agreeing to any concessions with the United States.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a top political target of Democrats in 2026, said farmers in his state are “very concerned” about how Trump’s trade war may play out, and for how long.

“We’re already hearing threats about curbing imports,” he said of threats from trading partners to source agricultural products from other countries.

“Now we know pork’s going to be 34 percent more expensive” in China, he said, referring to the 34 percent tariff Trump has imposed on that country, which imports billions of dollars’ worth of American soybeans, wheat, corn, beef and pork.

Trump on Monday, in response to China, said he would impose another 50 percent tariff on that country’s exports.

Tillis warned that if the Trump administration doesn’t find an off-ramp from the trade war within the next 60 days, it’s going to spell serious economic trouble for 2025.

He predicted that European buyers would shift to African markets that don’t have the........

© The Hill