Why Trump’s controversial tariffs are ‘hurting’ the very Americans who voted for him

Donald Trump recently admitted on Truth Social that there’s currently a problem affecting American farmers. His new tariffs — taxes on goods coming into the U.S. — were meant to strengthen the economy, but they’re now causing trouble for many of the very people who supported him.

When Trump returned to the White House in January, he promised major changes. In April, the 79-year-old announced a wide range of tariffs, saying they would boost America’s economy and bring back jobs. Since then, he has continued to claim that the plan is working, even though many experts and critics say otherwise.

One group feeling the pain from these tariffs are U.S. farmers, especially those who trade with China. Paul Mitchell, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explained in an interview with HuffPost that farmers who once sold large amounts of crops like soybeans to China are now losing business. He said the tariffs are making an already tough situation worse, as farmers are also dealing with bad weather, pests, and crop diseases.

Trump had promised that these tariffs would be a big win for farmers. In March, he even said, “Our farmers are going to have a field day… have a lot of fun, I love you.” But things didn’t go as planned. China responded by placing its own tariffs on American goods and stopped buying U.S. soybeans — one of America’s biggest exports.

Mitchell explained that corn and soybeans make up about half of the U.S. agricultural economy, and since China buys about 60% of all the soybeans traded in the world, losing that market has been a huge blow. When China stopped purchasing soybeans, U.S. exports dropped sharply, and farmers started to struggle financially.

Trump has acknowledged the problem on social media. On October 1, he wrote on Truth Social that China’s refusal to buy soybeans was “for negotiating reasons only” and promised to use some of the money the U.S. made from tariffs to help farmers. He said:

> “The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying. We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers. I WILL NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN!”

He also criticized Joe Biden, saying Biden failed to enforce an earlier trade agreement with China that would have required them to buy billions of dollars in U.S. farm products. Trump promised that when he meets with Chinese President Xi in four weeks, soybeans will be one of the main topics of discussion. He ended by saying he would “make soybeans and other crops great again.”

In short, Trump’s tariffs were supposed to help the American economy, but they’ve instead created serious problems for farmers who depend on trade with China — the very people who once strongly supported him.