“Our farmers simply cannot afford the uncertainty of a potential trade war. Farm income has declined for a second straight year,” Brian Duncan, Illinois Farm Bureau president, said in a statement last week. “Uncertainty surrounding tariffs and the potential for retaliation makes it difficult to plan for the future.”

Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C., said earlier this month: “Tariffs and tariff retaliation often hit farmers and ranchers hard, which make it more difficult for them to pay their bills and grow the food America’s families rely on.”