The European Union hit back with retaliatory taxes after the US placed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in June. And agricultural businesses across the US - like this one kidney bean farm - are reeling from them. Dan Williams reports from Wisconsin.

The mesmerizing sight of thousands of red kidney beans bouncing along a conveyer belt. The Chippewa Valley Bean company is a US farming success story. One in four dark red kidney beans traded internationally is handled by the Wisconsin-based family-run company. Its key market is Europe which accounts for 60 percent of its exports with an annual revenue of 25 million dollars. But that is now under threat. After the US placed tariffs on European steel and aluminum this spring, Europe hit back with a range of taxes of its own including a twenty-five percent tax on kidney beans.

CINDY BROWN PRESIDENT, CHIPPEWA VALLEY BEAN COMPANY "My family has been here since 1858. I am the seventh generation on this family farming business. This is the worst thing a government has ever done to us."

Trading partners in Europe say the tariffs make the product too expensive.

DAN WILLIAMS MENOMONIE, WISCONSIN "Each year this company processes some 45,000 metric tons of red kidney beans. But with orders now being canceled because of the tariffs, the warehouses are simply filling up."

CINDY BROWN PRESIDENT, CHIPPEWA VALLEY BEAN COMPANY "Primarily we have stopped shipping. Our customers are either saying cancel the contract, maybe let's wait and see if it turns out differently or we have to renegotiate. And if we are having to renegotiate, we are probably looking at prices that are below our margins."

Cindy Brown's father Russell Doane planted the first crop of red kidney beans here in 1969. Although the Trump administration has promised twelve billion dollars to farmers in emergency aid, there is a fear that buyers will simply look elsewhere and won't return.

RUSSELL DOANE FOUNDER, CHIPPEWA VALLEY BEAN COMPANY "Tariffs never do anybody any good. There's a saying we would rather have trade than aid. Aid is, by the time it gets done, it is a temporary thing. It's not the right way to go. If we are allowed to do our business as we have been doing it, we don't need the aid."

The company says it will honor its commitment to purchase beans from other local producers. But future deals are now in question.

CINDY BROWN PRESIDENT, CHIPPEWA VALLEY BEAN COMPANY "Farmers can't produce below the cost of production. That is not sustainable. There seems to have been a number of bankruptcies in agriculture in recent years. And I can't see that getting better any time soon."

The phrase 'not worth a hill of beans' is used to indicate that something is of little value. These beans are worth millions of dollars if the company could only get them out the door. Dan Williams CGTN Menomonie Wisconsin.