Report: tariffs costing Nebraska farmers as much as $1 billion

Countries have responded to U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs by putting their own tariffs on commodities like corn, soybeans and pork.

And on Tuesday, the Nebraska Farm Bureau released a report saying that’s costing Nebraska farmers.

“Because of the tariffs that are in place now on U.S. agricultural products, our farmers are losing revenue of anywhere from almost $700 million to just over $1 billion,” said NFB senior economist Jay Rempe.

Rempe said China’s retaliatory tariffs are making the biggest impact.  President Trump has placed tariffs on Chinese goods in response to what he calls their unfair trade practices.

“We’ve heard the news over the weekend that there’s the potential that the United States and China will sit down and maybe negotiate, hopefully work through some of these issues,” Rempe said.

But the report did have some positive news.  It projects U.S. beef exports will be more than $8 billion this year, which he says is a record high.

“Our two biggest customers for beef is South Korea and Japan,” Rempe said.  “And fortunately, we’ve entered into another trade agreement with South Korea…which keeps the markets there open to us.  And then in Japan as well, we haven’t engaged in any trade disputes with them yet.”

The report said the U.S. should not only lift steel and aluminum tariffs, but also finish the agreement with Mexico and Canada and form a multi–national approach with trade partners to put pressure on China.

Some farmers say while the tariffs hurt in the short term, they feel like they will help farming markets in the long run.