President Donald Trump admitted Thursday that his tariffs have been hurting American farmers. His solution — a farm bailout using tariff revenues — requires congressional approval.
But Democrats are in no mood to help Trump mitigate the impacts of his trade war. The solution is even simpler, Democrats say: Drop the tariffs.
“President Trump is desperately trying to find a way out of the mess he’s made with his trade war against the world,” Rep. Angie Craig (Minn.), the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, told us. “Trump’s tariffs hurt farmers, but they also hurt small businesses, manufacturers and working families by making everything cost more.”
The rising cost of living and stubborn inflation are already potential vulnerabilities for Republicans heading into 2026 — something Craig, who’s running for Senate in Minnesota, knows very well.
But Trump’s comments on Thursday are a sign that he’s aware of the impact his trade war is having on the economy in the form of higher prices. That issue could spell disaster for GOP candidates up and down the ballot in Nov. 2026.
“We’re going to take some of that tariff money that we made, we’re going to give it to our farmers who are, for a little while, going to be hurt until it kicks in, the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” Trump said. “So we’re going to make sure that our farmers are in great shape because we’re taking in a lot of money.”
Trump and his GOP allies have said the tariff regime is intended to re-balance the U.S. economy in a way that will ultimately benefit working-class Americans. Many economists say the short-term impact is that prices of goods will rise because, in most cases, tariffs are passed on to the consumer.
Trump’s trade war comes as American farmers are facing an especially difficult outlook. The prices for corn and soybeans, the two biggest cash crops, are way down. The costs of pesticides, fertilizers and farm machinery are up. Access to foreign markets is curtailed by retaliatory tariffs, and even getting crops to market is difficult.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, no fan of tariffs, told us on “Fly Out Day” earlier this month that Trump’s trade war has “very direct consequences” on agriculture states like his. The South Dakota Republican noted that 60% of his state’s soybeans are exported, mostly to China, “and that market’s now shut down.”
“There’s an argument that at some point tariff costs do get passed on in the economy,” Thune added. “The administration is arguing vehemently that they’re not going to, and I don’t know at this point who’s going to be right, who’s wrong.”
It’s quite the gamble to take. But Trump allies like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) see an opportunity. Hawley authored legislation to tap into tariff revenue by sending stimulus checks to working-class Americans.
“The whole point of the tariffs is to rebuild our middle-class economy. The president has said that many times,” Hawley said in an interview Thursday. “And I think this is a great way to do it.”
Hawley dismissed the notion that the economic headwinds facing American farmers are caused by tariffs. The Missouri Republican said it’s a “long-standing issue” in his state that has worsened over the years, with costs rising while returns are stagnant.
Unlike his more traditional free-trade GOP colleagues, Hawley has been a consistent booster of Trump’s tariffs and has said Republicans need to, among other things, bolster labor unions as a way to peel off blue-collar voters.
“I’d just say to my Democrat colleagues — they always say they’re the party of the working class,” Hawley said. “Well, fantastic, you know what, let’s compromise and let’s agree to give working people relief. We can start with farmers and go from there.”
