Trump administration announces US$12 billion aid plan for American farmers

2018-07-25 0

The Trump administration has announced plans to provide billions of dollars to help American farmers... amid Washington's escalating trade disputes with other countries.
President Trump tweeted on Tuesday "tariffs are the greatest"... but a sizable portion of Americans seem to disagree with him on the matter.
Kan Hyeong-woo reports.
The Trump administration has revealed a twelve billion dollar plan to help American farmers,... who have been hit by the U.S. President's intensifying trade war with other countries.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Tuesday that the emergency relief aid is a firm statement that other nations cannot bully U.S. agricultural producers to force the administration to back down from its hardline stance.

Several countries and regions, including China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico,... have imposed heavier duties on U.S. imports in retaliation to President Trump's tariff policies.

Trump, however, appears unfazed,.. tweeting that "tariffs are the greatest" and "either a country which has treated the United State unfairly on trade negotiates a fair deal or it gets hit with tariffs."

"So the way we keep America great is to make at least reasonable, I'm not saying at least reasonable, at least fair trade deals not stupid trade deals like we've put up with for 25 years, so we're changing it and we're changing rapidly."

But some Republicans disagree with the president.

"I've made it pretty clear, I don't think tariffs are the right answer. I don't support tariffs. I think tariffs are taxes and I think there are better tools that we can use to hold abusers of trade laws"

Almost half of the American public also disagree with the Trump administration's trade policy.
According to a joint poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, 49 percent of respondents said Trump's tariff plan will raise the costs of goods and hurt the economy.
A quarter said the tariffs will protect American jobs and help the economy.
Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News.