Trump is giving farmers $12B in aid. They've been hit hard by his trade
war with China
[December 09, 2025]
By SEUNG MIN KIM, JOSH FUNK and DIDI TANG
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion farm
aid package Monday — a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their
crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised
tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war.
He unveiled the plan Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers from farm states, and
farmers who thanked him for the help.
“With this bridge payment, we’ll be able to farm another year,” Iowa
farmer Cordt Holub told Trump during the event.
Rollins put the immediate value of the program at $11 billion — money
that the White House said will offer one-time payments to row-crop
farmers. Another $1 billion will be put aside for specialty crops as the
administration works to better understand the circumstances for those
farmers, Rollins said. The aid will move by the end of February, she
said.
“We looked at how they were hurt, to what extent they were hurt,” Trump
said, explaining how the administration came up with the size of the
package. Trump said the money for the program will come from tariff
revenue.
Later this month, the USDA will use a formula that estimates production
costs to come up with a per-acre payment for each type of crop. Payments
will be capped at $155,000 per farm or person, and only entities that
make less than $900,000 a year will be eligible for aid. That will limit
payments to large farms, which was a criticism of farm aid Trump
delivered in his first term.
Farmers have backed Trump politically, but his aggressive trade policies
and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny
because of the impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader
consumer worries.
The aid is the administration’s latest effort to defend Trump’s economic
stewardship and answer voter angst about rising costs. Trump has been
dismissive of the affordability issue at times, but on Tuesday, he is
set to travel to Pennsylvania to talk about how his administration is
trying to address a concern that is important for voters.
China purchases have been slow
Soybeans and sorghum were hit the hardest by Trump's trade dispute with
China because more than half those crops are exported each year with
most of the harvest going to China.
In October, after Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea,
the White House said Beijing had promised to buy at least 12 million
metric tons of U.S. soybeans by the end of the calendar year, plus 25
million metric tons a year in each of the next three years. China is the
world’s largest buyer of soybeans, but in recent years it has
increasingly been shifting its purchases over to Brazil and other South
American nations.
China has purchased more than 2.8 million metric tons of soybeans since
Trump announced the agreement at the end of October. That’s only about
one quarter of what administration officials said China had promised,
but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said China is on track to meet
its goal by the end of February, which is two months later than the
White House originally promised.
The size of the $12 billion aid package is roughly the value of total
U.S. soybean exports to China in 2024 and half the total exports of U.S.
farm goods to China in 2024.
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President Donald Trump listens as Cordt Holub of Dysart, Iowa,
speaks during a roundtable on farm subsidies in the Cabinet Room of
the White House, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex
Brandon)
Farmers say their costs have surged
Farmers appreciate the aid package, but they say it’s likely only a
down payment on what’s needed and government aid doesn’t solve the
fundamental problems of soaring costs and uncertain markets. During
Trump’s first term, he gave farmers more than $22 billion in aid
payments in 2019 at the start of his trade war with China and nearly
$46 billion in 2020, although that year also included aid related to
the COVID pandemic.
Farmers say want to make a profit off selling their crops -- not
rely on government aid to survive.
“That’s a start, but I think we need to be looking for some avenues
to find other funding opportunities and we need to get our markets
going. That’s where we want to be able to make a living from,” said
Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer who serves as president of the
American Soybean Association.
Most at risk are younger farmers and those who rent -- instead of
own -- their land because they don’t have much ability to borrow
against the equity in their farms. If farmers can’t make ends meet
this year, there could be additional consolidation in the industry
with giant industrial farms getting bigger and the number of smaller
family farmers continuing to shrink.
Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt is in a difficult position because he only
owns 160 of the 2,000 acres he farms. So he says he's selling some
of his equipment that’s not essential and looking into whether he
can pick up some overnight trucking jobs to help raise some cash.
“It is to the point where I don’t want to saddle my kid with the
kind of stress that my wife and I are under right now,” Ewoldt said.
But fourth-generation Minnesota farmer Darin Johnson said he’s more
optimistic that most farmers will be able to endure this latest
trade war.
“A lot of farms are pretty well-established and they have the equity
to be able to still keep borrowing money to get through tougher
times like this,” Johnson said.
Trump has also been under pressure to address soaring beef prices.
Trump has asked the Department of Justice to investigate
foreign-owned meat packers he accused of driving up the price of
beef, although he has not provided evidence to back his claims.
On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order directing the Justice
Department and Federal Trade Commission to look at “anti-competitive
behavior” in food supply chains — including seed, fertilizer and
equipment — and consider taking enforcement actions or developing
new regulations.
___
Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers
Michelle L. Price in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Jack
Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
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