NFU Concerned About Tariff Durations

As the trade war ramps up and impacts to different commodities are becoming evident, it is causing a lot of uncertainty, especially on a large scale, and looking to the future, according to National Farmers Union president Rob LaRew.

“I think a lot of that is not only tied to kind of immediate impact of tariffs, but I think, you know, it's this uncertainty, how long are the tariffs going to be on? That's one of the big discussions. Are these more permanent? Is this going to be temporary? Are they going to change, and what are countries going to do in response to it? We've already seen kind of the response from China with slapping on an additional 34% tariff, which you know, through the lens of soybeans, just basically blocked you out of the market.”

LaRew is concerned that the longer the tariffs are in place, the more it will cost producers and consumers,

“Certainly, if you take the position that these tariffs will be part of a negotiation to create kind of fair markets and fair competition for us, here in the US, then I think that that kind of messaging from certain countries might actually feed into that. But I think that, again, one of the big debates right now is whether these tariffs are going to be kind of entrenched and hang around for a while, and the more that they do, the more that that added cost is going to be built into everything you and I are buying out there or selling.”

National Farmers Union president Rob LaRew.