10000% disagree. Farmers need to figure how to be more efficient or go out of business. So sick of bailouts and government supported businesses. Any tariff money should go to the debt.
First, I cannot express enough the importance of having plentiful cheap food for the security of our society and stability of our economy. Problems in the food supply can kill a society. The US is one of the top agricultural producers, and a net exporter. This is a fantastic position to be in, as we don't have any security threats related to calorie deficit. American farmers are also the most sophisticated and productive agricultural producers in the world. It's worth it to our society to maintain this position for all kinds of social, political, and national security reasons.
Pulling ag subsidies will immediately drive up the prices of almost all American food products. Marginal producers will be forced out of business, lowering supply, and further driving up food prices, hitting every American, and having an putsized effect on the poorest Americans. This will end up shifting politics in the US to the left, and the Dems will ramp up food stamps, welfare, and other benefits, which they will either rake from the middle class, or just print the money, driving inflation and further pushing up prices of everything in the US. You can probably see how this would be bad for.our country.
China has been welching on trade deals for decades. They're sneaky, underhanded shitheads who have been biting the hand that feeds them. They violate national agreements to boycott US ag products for political reasons. They flood markets with subsidized low-quality products of all kinds, nut just in the US, but anywhere they can. The Chonese boycott of American soybeans is unfair to the US farmers and the US taxpayers, so China should foot the bill for their transgressions. It makes perfect sense to put a punitive tariff on Chinese products entering the US and using the money to pay farmers for the losses they sustain from China's underhanded dealings. Yes, technically people consuming Chonese goods are paying the tariff, but that's fine with me. The more you support Chinese products, the more you pay to correct their shady trade practices. This also helps to push Chinese products out of the US market and increasing demand for US products, bolstering our domestic economy.
I tend to be socially libertarian, but economically conservative. Economic stability is one of the most important factors to a society's wellbeing. If that means subsidizing US food production, then it's worth it. You get part of that money back anyway every time you go to the supermarket and buy cheap food.
The idea that we can shut our borders and do everything for ourselves is erroneous. Likewise, the idea we can open our borders to unregulated trade and let our economy be negatively affected by bad actors like the CCP is also erroneous. The only reasonable policy for the US is to regulate our international trade to make our market fair for American consumers and to protect our people's basic needs.
