Some countries have already applied tariffs on American ag products
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Farm equipment manufacturers are concerned about how President Trump’s import tariffs on steel and aluminum will affect their industry.
Farmers have already expressed displeasure with the tariffs (set at 25 and 10 percent, respectively) and China, the largest U.S. soybean customer, may apply retaliatory tariffs on soybean imports.
A trade war with China or any other country would be harmful to the entire American agricultural industry, equipment manufacturers said.
These tariffs “will adversely impact farm equipment manufacturers by raising the cost of agricultural equipment made in the U.S. and necessitating price increases for our products,” Kelli Cook, AGCO’s North American public relations manager, told Farms.com in an emailed statement today.
“Additionally, our overseas trading partners could react with trickle-down retaliatory tariffs that could impact our ability to export our products and farmers’ ability to export their farm commodities.”
Sam Allen, CEO of John Deere, explained the domino effect that tariffs can have during his visit to a Brazilian company facility last week.
"If China no longer buys U.S. soybeans or Mexico no longer buys U.S. corn, that would be really bad for our customers and that would be much more impactful on us," he said on March 20, according to Bloomberg.
Steel prices could rise by about 30 percent, Allen added.