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So, like countless other Americans in agribusiness, former Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who now co-
chairs a broad agricultural coalition called Farmers for Free Trade, hit the fire alarm when the president
announced his first long list of tariffs against China.

“Farmers are going to get squeezed by this decision from all sides. First, the (steel and aluminum)
tariffs the U.S. announced ... will make the ag equipment and inputs they rely on more expensive.
Then they’ll face new tariffs … (because) China is more than willing to target American farmers
with retaliatory tariffs on our ag exports,” he said.

China has done so and quickly, initially declaring 25 percent duties on American pork (already being
collected on some shipments, hoisting its total import tax now to 37 percent) plus other items plus 15
percent on fruit and 120 types of commodities. Beijing soon followed with 25 percent tariffs on U.S.
soybeans, aircraft, some beef items and 100 other products. Little wonder then, that the American
Soybean Association is encouraging its members to write lawmakers and governors in an attempt to stop
the Chinese retaliation.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently wrote their own letter to the President, asking
him to address China's trade practices in a way that avoids retaliation and helps "return our agriculture
industry to a state of certainty and back on the road to prosperity."

However, in the ag arena, the battle is escalating. China’s Commerce Ministry announced in April a
preliminary anti-dumping ruling, imposing a 178.6 percent tariff on U.S. sorghum. In addition, China
announced a possible future retaliatory 25 percent tariff on imported U.S. sorghum. Its action on
sorghum is also seen as part of its efforts to block grain imports and reduce its domestic corn surplus.

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