Trump Proposes Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership to Shield Farmers From Trade War

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told a gathering of farm state lawmakers and governors Thursday morning that he was directing his advisers to look into rejoining the multicountry trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as the White House tries to come up with ways to protect the agriculture sector, which could be badly hurt by the president’s trade policies.

Rejoining the trade pact would be a surprising change in policy for Trump, who long criticized the deal and withdrew from it last January, in his first major trade action. The president has long maintained that he prefers to negotiate trade deals one on one, a tactic he says gives the United States better leverage over its trading partners.

But the risk of an escalating trade war with China has panicked American farmers and ranchers, who send many of their products abroad. China has responded to Trump’s threat of tariffs on as much as $150 billion worth of Chinese goods by placing its own tariffs on U.S. pork, and threatening taxes on soybeans, sorghum, corn and beef.

China’s aggressive response to Trump’s tariffs is aimed squarely at products produced in the U.S. heartland, a region that helped send him to the White House. A trade war with China could be particularly devastating to rural economies, especially for pig farmers and soybean and corn growers. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. soybean exports go to China.

The Trump administration says it has ordered the Agriculture Department to create a program to help farmers hurt by trade. Trade advisers say the department could use a program known as the Commodity Credit Corp. to purchase potentially billions of dollars of crops from American farmers harmed by tariffs.

But such a program would be time-consuming and costly and would come as the budget deficit continues to increase. Many American agriculturalists maintain that the easiest way to help them is to avoid a trade war with China in the first place. And many economists say the best way to combat a rising China and pressure it to open its market is through multilateral trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which create favorable trading terms for participants.

On Thursday, Republican senators, congressmen and governors from Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Kansas, Texas and other farming states met with the president to express their concerns.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said it was “good news” that the president had directed his economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, and his trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, to look into rejoining the deal. “The best thing the United States can do to push back against Chinese cheating now is to lead the other 11 Pacific nations that believe in free trade and the rule of law,” Sasse said in a statement.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a tweet Thursday that the farm state senators who attended the meeting had each expressed concerns about “nervousness among farmers” because of Chinese retaliation.