Trump to Give Farmers Aid, but Farmers Aren't Thrilled

President Trump showed off a new campaign hat on Monday—it's green with yellow letters, reminiscent of the John Deere logo, and it reads "Make Our Farmers Great Again," notes Politico. (See Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue sporting one here.) The message is a calculated one as the White House seeks to ease farmers' concerns that a US trade war will hit them hard. On Tuesday, the White House put the word out that its efforts will go well beyond hats, however—it's rolling out $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers, especially those dealing with dairy, pork, and soybeans, reports CNBC. Details:

• The money: It will come partly from a program set up in the Depression to help farmers called the Commodity Credit Corporation, reports the Washington Post. Because it's an existing program, congressional approval isn't necessary. Trump had asked Perdue to explore options months ago, and more details are still to be released.
• Short-term: Perdue said the "one-time" program would help farmers dealing with "illegal retaliation" to US tariffs, reports the Wall Street Journal. “This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration time to work on long-term trade deals."

• The politics: The rollout comes as Trump travels to Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa ahead of the midterms, states where the agricultural community has voiced concern about the fallout of retaliatory tariffs from other nations. "The farmers will be the biggest beneficiary," Trump said of his trade disputes in Missouri on Tuesday, per USA Today. "Just be a little patient."
• Criticism: The new plan isn't sitting well with members of Trump's own party who are worried about the longer-term picture. “What is our future down the road?" asks Senate Agriculture Committee chief Pat Roberts of Kansas. "We are trying to make the point that we don’t want aid, we want trade.” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse: “This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches." But it wasn't only politicians: "This proposed action would only be a short-term attempt at masking the long-term damage caused by tariffs," Brian Kuehl of the trade group Farmers for Free Trade tells the New York Times.
• 'Welfare' theme: Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Rand Paul of Kentucky both hit upon the same phrase in their criticism: “If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers—the answer is remove the tariffs,” Paul tweeted. “Our farmers have been in nonstop, saying they want trade, not aid, and now they’re being put on welfare,” said Corker. “Hopefully soon this ill-thought out policy will end.”
• No end in sight: Most stories point out that the emergency aid is a good sign that Trump doesn't intend to stop the trade disputes anytime soon. He extolled them again on Tuesday morning with a "Tariffs are the greatest!" tweet. And in Missouri, he said, “What the European Union is doing to us is incredible, how bad. They sound nice but they’re rough.”

(More farmers stories.)