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MARYVILLE

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News Brief

April 4, 2025

Nebraska farms will feel effects of tariffs

Nebraska farm leaders are asking the Trump administration and the European Union to de-escalate a trade war developing over tariffs.

The National Farmers Union and the EU ag group Coldiretti have sent a joint letter to President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - telling them farmers on both sides of the Atlantic will be hurt by tariffs, which would reduce markets for their crops.

While there are tariffs on lots of imported products, Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen says it's America's Midwest farmers who are most vulnerable in a trade war.

"Nose bleeds, first it bleeds worse and a lot of cases, it bleeds the longest.", says Hansen.

The EU has responded to Trump's tariffs on farm products with retaliatory tariffs of its own.

As one of the top exporting states in the country, Hansen says tariffs could be especially bad for Nebraska farmers.

"Wheather its our soybeans or our pork, we have a lot of commodities that we grow in great efficientcy and great productivity in our state that obviously need export market.", says Hansen. 

The Trump administration announced a long list of tariffs on a huge number of countries world-wide last week.