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April 16, 2025 |
By: Associated Press
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley held a public meeting
A woman in southeast Iowa wasted no time when the floor opened for questions at Republican Senator Chuck Grassley's public meeting Tuesday, asking about the impact the Trump administration’s trade war could have in this export-dependent state.
Grassley hedged, suggesting Trump’s trade policy could benefit producers if countries relax their import rules on U.S. beef or hurt them if they don’t. But he finished by hinting at the most serious issue for Iowa. “I think it’s more grain than livestock,” he said.
Trump’s tariffs are likely to cost Iowa farmers their biggest market, China, for the hundreds of millions of bushels of soybeans they grow every year. And it’s put Grassley, an anti-tariff warrior, in a difficult spot in a state inordinately dependent on agricultural exports as the nation’s second-leading soybean producer.
Grassley proposed a bill this month with support from both parties that would require presidents to justify future tariffs to Congress but would not affect the measures Trump has put in place. The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility of setting taxes and tariffs, but lawmakers have ceded much of that power over import taxes to the president over the past 60 years.
However, the White House issued a statement last week to congressional leaders that Trump would veto Grassley’s measure if it passed, effectively killing it. The White House argued it would hamper the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy and pursue national security.
American farmers sold nearly $13 billion worth of soybeans in China last year, accounting for more than half of all the soybean exports worldwide and dwarfing the next largest markets of the European Union and Mexico.
Iowa follows only Illinois in soybean production and, in 2023, was second only to California in agricultural export sales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
