South Dakota Soybean Association weighs in on new tariff plan

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – On what he is calling “Liberation Day,” President Trump has announced a new round of tariffs.

Trump detailed his new plan in a Rose Garden Ceremony on Wednesday.

The president’s latest taxes on imports include a 10% baseline for all countries. The package also includes a 34 percent tax on Chinese imports, 20 percent on imports from the European Union, and 24 percent on Japanese products. Trump says many of his newly announced tariffs are reciprocal and aimed at countries that put markup costs on products made in the United States.

The president signaled confidence that his new package of tariffs would be a boost to the United States Economy.

“Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country and you see it happening already, we will supercharge our domestic industrial base, we will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers, and ultimately more production at home will stronger competition and lower prices for consumers,” Trump said.

Trump’s tariff plans have sparked fears that the new import taxes could cause retaliation from other countries as well as raise consumer prices on Americans.

The South Dakota Soybean Association previously expressed fears that trade wars could impact the industry’s access to the Chinese market, which buys about 60 percent of South Dakota’s soybeans. Association President Kevin Deinert said Wednesday he’s still sorting out the specifics of the latest numbers.

Uncertainty appears to linger as Kota Territory News asked Deinert how he felt about China following Wednesday’s announcement.

“Anytime we have those types of disruptions or any type of kind of tit for tat type tariff situations it’s always a concern to how will that effect our markets and how will that affect our trade with them,” said Deinert. “We’ll kind of dive into the specifics of some of this stuff, and hopefully, we can reach out to our counterparts in China and still maintain some of those relationships with them,”

Under the president’s new plan, he can increase or decrease tariffs depending on actions other countries take going forward.

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