Dave Reichert says tariffs are already threatening small farms

The average consumer may not consider the underlying problems with trade tariffs, problems which we’re already seeing from tariffs imposed on all five of the country’s top trading partners, Congress member Dave Reichert says.

Tariffs, he says, threaten people’s livelihoods.

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As the chair of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Reichert heard a warning from the agricultural community this week that the trade war will mean more than the price of fruit from Washington state will increase.

“Small family-owned farms are already looking at closing,” he told the Jason Rantz Show.

Not only are farmers in Washington and throughout the country going to be edged out of the market, their operating costs could increase as they look to produce for their remaining customers. Plus, when farmers stop selling as much of their product, they stop growing as much — that means layoffs. And the problem extends beyond farms to manufacturers and small businesses, Reichert says.

A fruit grower in Washington state told the Associated Press that China increased tariff rates to 50 percent for cherries, apples, and pears grown in the U.S. Customers, he said, have been canceling orders. Like Reichert, he warned that if the tariffs remain much longer, producers outside the country will “snatch up these markets as soon as we stumble.”

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Reichert says this was avoidable, but, instead “what we’ve done is we’ve made the U.S. the bad guy, and there is a global effort now to address the bad acts of the United States versus an effort to address the bad acts of China.”

“We have created an opportunity for the rest of the world,” he said.

Listen to the entire conversation here.

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