Farmer who voted for Trump begs him to end trade war because he 'feels the pain'

Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer who is the president of the American Soybean Association, pleaded with U.S. President Donald Trump to end the trade war in an article published on Wednesday in The Free Press, according to the Newsweek.

"I am one of the 500,000 soybean farmers in America who feels the pain. I rely on my own farm for 100 percent of the income for my family and the families of our three full-time workers," he was quoted as writing.

Ragland described the trade war as a "gamble with American livelihoods, especially for farmers" and called on Trump to "please make a deal with China now" to end it.

"The longer the stalemate continues, the likelier China is to take its business elsewhere, like Brazil," he warned.

On Wednesday, "Trump ratcheted up U.S. tariffs on China as he initiated a pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs that he had imposed on other countries. The reprieve offers little relief for farmers who are concerned that a protracted trade war with China will cut off ties with their largest export market," the New York Times reported on Thursday.

"The loss of China as an export market will deal a particularly hard economic blow to agricultural workers in many red states, hitting many of the voters who helped Mr Trump win the presidential election," it pointed out, adding that Soybean producers warn that "farms could go under as the Trump administration hits China with new tariffs of 145 percent." 

"If this lasts long term, we're going to have a significant number of farmers going out of business," Ragland was quoted as saying by the New York Times, adding that "We still bear scars from the last trade war."

"The longer that uncertainty exists, the more concerned we become that our growers could harvest billions of bushels of corn for which they will not have reliable markets," Kenneth Hartman Jr., president of the National Corn Growers Association, was quoted as saying. "Our farmers want certainty that our customers at home and abroad will buy our products in the months and years ahead."

"Chinese soybean crushers scooped up an unusually large amount of Brazilian beans this week as the escalating trade war makes purchases of U.S. crops unviable. Importers bought at least 40 cargoes from Brazil in the first half of this week," Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

"The shipments are mostly for delivery in May, June and July, and are equivalent to at least 2.4 million tonnes, almost one-third of the average volume China typically crushes in a month," Bloomberg said.