A Democratic congressman from the Chicago area brought his concerns about President Trump’s tariffs to a farm just south of Bloomington on Thursday, accusing the administration of sowing “chaos and uncertainty” with its confrontational approach to trade policy.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi was raised in Peoria, though his district today is around 100 miles north of Bloomington-Normal in the Chicago suburbs. He’s widely expected to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate following Dick Durbin’s retirement announcement.
“People are very concerned about two words: chaos and uncertainty,” he said. “Chaos because they don’t know who to believe or what is actually the truth about what’s going to happen in regard to tariffs. And uncertainty means, less hiring and less investment.”
Krishnamoorthi spoke Thursday at the Kindred family farm in Atlanta, just southwest of Bloomington-Normal. Owner Ron Kindred said he’s concerned about Trump’s tariffs and any retaliatory actions from China, which consumes more than half of all soybeans exported from the U.S. Illinois is the No. 1 soybean-producing state in the U.S.
“With China, they’re our No. 1 customer. If you put all of our other export markets together, it doesn’t equal what China buys from the U.S. in soybeans,” Kindred said. “So, it’s a real concern when your No. 1 customer is the one who’s targeted with tariffs.
“It’s the uncertainty of, what are we going to get for our commodity that we’re putting in the ground right now? What’s it going to be worth when we harvest it this fall? Is it going to be worth $10 a bushel or $7 a bushel? That could be the cost of long-term tariffs.”
Kindred is also chairman of the Illinois Soybean Association. Their preference is to negotiate trade deals without threatening tariffs to get everyone to the table.
Kindred and other farmers have been through this before. Trump also pursued a trade war against China during his first term. That hit farmers particularly hard. It ended up costing farmers an estimated $27 billion in lost agricultural exports, NPR reported.
“We lost world market share. South America expanded their production. We lost some of our business. And that’s our concern right now going forward. Are we going to lose more? Is South America going to expand more, to take up that market share of ours?”
Kindred said he and other farmers understand what Trump is doing – trying to “level the playing field” with China. The goal appears to be bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. from China, with agriculture commodities merely caught in the crossfire.
“The purpose and the goal, I agree with. But it’s the methods that I’m having a little problem with, because it can impact our income dramatically,” Kindred said.
Krishnamoorthi said Democrats need just three members of the House GOP to side with them to block Trump’s ability to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enact these tariffs. Several states have sued the Trump administration with the same goal.
“From what I can see, the emergency is now because of the chaos and the uncertainty,” Krishnamoorthi said. “Let’s end that emergency. Congress should have a lot more control over trade policy. And while we want the executive branch to maintain discretion under certain laws, this is overboard.”
