Trump, GOP make midterm appeal to farmers with China deal, farm bill

The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers are seeking to win over U.S. farmers, a core constituency for the president during his 2016 and 2024 White House wins that has been aggravated by rising prices caused by his trade policies and the Iran war.

Ahead of a midterm election season where the GOP is working to win every vote it can, the White House and its allies in Congress are reaching out to farmers in red and blue states alike.

On the way back from Beijing after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump assured farmers that they would be pleased with the deals he’d made with a major purchaser of U.S. agricultural goods that has cut down on its cash for U.S. soybean and other goods amid a trade fight with his administration.

“The farmers are going to be very happy. They’re going to be buying millions of dollars,” Trump told reporters on his way back from China.

Earlier, Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that Xi agreed to purchase U.S. soybeans, oil and liquified natural gas and other energy, along with Boeing jets.

A White House official told The Hill that the agricultural agreements made “will help our farmers gain unprecedented access into Chinese markets.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg on Thursday that he expected China to commit $10 billion to purchasing agricultural products.

But experts say there are questions about whether China will follow up with commitments on promises that may have been made between the two leaders.

“It’s a good step to hear that some agreements were reached and that progress was made on the issue of making sure that farmers have access to markets,” said Brian Reisinger, an author and rural policy expert, adding that “the question with China is always, you know, the devil being in the details with the Chinese, are they going to follow through on their commitments, and are those commitments can be part of a broader framework where there’s more fair and more enforceable trade........

© The Hill