As the nation’s trade fights linger on — and the 2020 presidential campaign moves onto the runway — there are three sets of counties to keep an eye on in the American Communities Project: the ag-based Aging Farmlands, small-town Rural Middle America, and the blue-collar Middle Suburbs.
The tariffs and trade negotiations in the headlines affect those places in different ways and the political impacts will likely vary, particularly when considering the electoral map. While much has been made of how President Trump could be hurting his voters — and his reelection chances — with the trade deals he is pursuing, the actual impacts of the trade fights are much more complicated.
You sense the stakes when looking at employment in two sectors strongly impacted by the tariffs: agriculture and manufacturing. CONT.
Dante Chinni, American Communities Project
