Utah farmers are giving lukewarm reactions to an aid package announced this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture providing $12 billion to farmers hurt by the Trump administration's escalating trade war.
"Well, I have kind of mixed feelings about it," said Craig Laub, a hay farmer in Iron County. "I appreciate the gesture, I don't know if they'll go that far. Hopefully we can just get these tariff deals worked out and get back to [a] free market."
Laub has been growing and exporting alfalfa hay for nearly four decades in southern Utah. He sells to Japan, Taiwan and China.
Laub said after China imposed retaliatory tariffs earlier this month, he saw a steep $20 per ton drop in prices on alfalfa hay.
"On the short term, the product that I sell domestically, the price has gone down because the tariffs have slowed the export of my other products," he said.
Laub, like other Utah farmers, said he supports the president's goal to get better trade deals, he's just not so sure about his strategy.
Other Utah leaders were less generous about the $12 billion aid package. In a tweet on Tuesday when the plan was announced, Sen. Orrin Hatch said the administration should find a "better approach."
Chairman Hatch on federal aid to farmers: “We need to find a better approach toward current trade challenges. Rather than giving handouts, I want the president to negotiate strong deals that help our farmers, ranchers and businesses compete around the world.”
— Senate Finance Committee (@SenFinance) July 24, 2018
"Rather than giving handouts, I want the president to negotiate strong deals that help our farmers, ranchers and businesses compete around the world," he tweeted.
The Salt Lake Chamber's Derek Miller echoed Hatch, calling the deal a "payoff."
"The remedy to Trump's trade war is less government intervention, not more," Miller said in a statement.
Ron Gibson, the president of the Utah Farm Bureau, took a softer tone toward the president, calling the aid a temporary stopgap measure.
"I mean I'm ok with receiving it," said Gibson, who operates a dairy farm in Weber County. "I don't feel guilty for receiving federal aid because it's not that we're not out working and doing our jobs. These are decisions that were made that we had no control over."
Gibson spoke to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue earlier this week by phone about the president's plans. Perdue's message to the farm industry was to "hang with them," according to Gibson.
Perdue said the USDA would begin distributing funds toward the beginning of September.
"What we need in agriculture is a win," said Gibson. "We understand what the president is trying to do … I just hope that he's doing it the right way."
