President Donald Trump is preparing to unveil a massive $12 billion aid package for American farmers on Monday, a significant financial injection aimed at stabilizing an agricultural sector rocked by rising costs and retaliatory tariffs.
The plan will be officially announced at a White House roundtable featuring Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and producers of key commodities, including cotton, corn, and soybeans, the AP reported.
According to a White House official speaking on anonymity to the AP, the centerpiece of the package is the USDA’s “Farmer Bridge Assistance” program. Roughly $11 billion is earmarked for one-time payments to row crop farmers, with the remaining funds directed toward other growers to help market their current harvest and plan for the next season.
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The financial rescue comes as the administration attempts to shield the agriculture industry from the fallout of aggressive trade policies.
While the White House recently touted a deal in which Beijing promised to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by year’s end, data show China has purchased only 2.8 million tons since late October.
Treasury Secretary Bessent defended the need for the payments on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” arguing that “the Chinese actually used our soybean farmers as pawns in the trade negotiations.”
This latest round of funding mirrors the heavy subsidies seen during Trump’s first term, which saw over $68 billion paid out to farmers in 2019 and 2020 combined. Simultaneously, the President is moving to address consumer concerns over food prices, having signed an executive order Saturday directing the DOJ and FTC to investigate “anti-competitive behavior” in supply chains for beef, fertilizer, and seeds.
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