Washington, Feb 28 (IANS) US Senate Democrats accused President Donald Trump of deepening a farm and food affordability crisis, arguing that his tariff policies have handed China leverage in global agriculture while driving up grocery prices at home.
Releasing a new report titled “Trump’s Broken Promises: Devastating America’s Farmers and Working Families,” Democrats said Trump’s trade war with Beijing has sharply curtailed US export markets and forced American farmers into financial distress.
The report states that China, once a major buyer of US soybeans, stopped purchases in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. In 2024, China spent $3 billion on US soybeans. In 2025, Trump’s tariffs caused China to pivot from US markets to Argentina and Brazil, and resumed purchases now represent a 32 per cent decline since 2024.
It adds that farmers are entering a new growing year with surplus commodities they cannot sell and “no certainty about what to plant in the coming year.”
The report expressed concerns over foreign control in the US food system. It notes that Smithfield Foods, owned by China’s WH Group, has a dominant position in the US pork market, controlling a quarter of pork processing.
Syngenta Group, a major supplier of agricultural chemicals and seeds, “is owned by ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, giving China control over major inputs for America’s farmers.”
Against that backdrop, Democrats argue that Trump’s domestic policies have compounded the strain.
“Donald Trump’s tariffs have put American farmers and ranchers under extreme financial strain. Costs are rising. Markets are closing,” Senator Maria Cantwell said. “The President doesn’t care. But now, it’s time to find out if Republicans care about these farm communities that they represent.”
The report states that beef prices are up 16.4 per cent, coffee 19.8 per cent, lettuce 7.3 per cent, and frozen fish 8.6 per cent over the last year. It says American families paid $310 more for groceries during Trump’s first year in office.
“Behind every statistic is a family, a senior, a veteran, or a working family struggling to make ends meet,” Senator Ben Ray Lujan said. “Families are being squeezed from every direction.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said: “Trump promised to bring prices down on ‘day one.’ But when American families go to the grocery store, they are confronted with the harsh reality that Trump has sold out consumers in fealty to special interests.”
The report argues that consolidation in meatpacking and seed markets has worsened the crisis. It states that farmers “keep just 15.9 cents of every dollar spent on food.” It also notes that “in 2025, 315 farmers filed for bankruptcy, a more than 46 per cent increase from the year before.”
Rob Larew, President of the National Farmers Union, said: “Unpredictable trade policies and corporate consolidation are squeezing family farmers on one end and consumers on the other.”
The debate over tariffs and agricultural exports has been central to US–China economic tensions for years. Soybeans have often served as a political barometer, particularly in Midwestern states where export markets are critical to farm incomes.
Food inflation has also become a defining domestic political issue in the United States. Grocery prices and farm bankruptcies have drawn bipartisan concern, even as lawmakers remain divided over tariffs, antitrust enforcement and the future direction of American trade policy.
–IANS
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