As the Trump administration’s trade fight with China deepens, the impacts are starting to pile up — particularly in the nation’s farming communities where tariffs targeting agricultural products are hitting hard. And with 2020 approaching, the ongoing dispute could have serious electoral implications. Polls show a mix of presidential support […] Read more »
How the Ongoing Trade Fights Complicate the Political Map in 2020
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 […] Read more »
Has Trump’s Anti-Rural Agenda Handed Democrats an Opening in Red America?
President Trump’s feckless trade war is bludgeoning the bottom line of the Republican Party’s reliable rural base. But the party’s disregard for the economic interests of its own constituents goes well beyond barriers to Chinese markets. Small towns and rural areas, along with some Rust Belt metros, are falling ever […] Read more »
Trump’s Rural Stress Test
… Trump’s immigration and trade policies have set many agriculture leaders to grinding their teeth, albeit through a forced smile. Yet his support has been steadfast. Could any of it ever cost Trump some of his support among farmers and across small-town and rural America? … If any Democrat is […] Read more »
Trump’s ‘great patriot’ farmers follow him into a trade war
Iowa farmer Tim Bardole survived years of low crop prices and rising costs by cutting back on fertilizer and herbicides and fixing broken-down equipment rather than buying new. When President Donald Trump’s trade war with China made a miserable situation worse, Bardole used up any equity his operation had and […] Read more »
For Trump’s 2020 re-election, not all tariffs are created equal
Since his arrival in Washington, President Donald Trump has brought a different approach to trade, sparking fights with U.S. allies and adversaries in search of better deals. But as the 2020 election draws closer, a look at some of the numbers shows not all trade disputes are equal in the […] Read more »