An agriculture organization that includes Montana farmers said Thursday that the new steel and aluminum tariffs announced by the Trump Administration will take farm operations “to the breaking point.”
Farmers for Free Trade’s Executive Director says retaliatory tariffs are likely to harm farmers by restricting access to global markets. The group says farmers will fight the Trump Administration on these tariffs.
“We depend on free trade policies to maintain our export markets,” says Michelle Erickson-Jones in a video on Farmers for Free Trade's website.
Erickson-Jones, a farmer from Broadview says she was optimistic about the economy under President Donald Trump, but concerned about proposed trade policies.
“Crops that we grow here on this farm are exported across the globe," she says. "Policies that restrict trade would be devastating for farms like ours. Someday, I’d like to pass the farm down to my boys. Mr. President, protect free trade and keep our agriculture economy strong.”
Erickson-Jones is the president of the Montana Grain Growers Association. Farmers for Free Trade is a lobbying organization started by former Montana Senator Max Baucus.
The tariffs will take effect at midnight Friday.