President Trump’s trade agenda may be on a collision course with the interests of his rural voters.
A recent Vox article suggested that starting trade wars with our allies would be “a disaster for American farmers.”
The irony lies in the fact that Trump was swept into power on the votes of rural Americans—farmers and ranchers who had grown frustrated with the amount of regulation enacted by Obama’s White House.
This week, a group of agribusiness heavyweights sent a letter to Trump, imploring the president not to back out of NAFTA. Among those signing onto the letter were the North American Meat Institute, the American Soybean Association, and the US Dry Bean Council.
One problem lies in the fact that the interests of the Corn Belt are at odds with other Trump voters in the Rust Belt, who have lamented watching manufacturing jobs depart for Mexico.