December 8, 2025
President Trump just announced he’s bailing out Americans who are struggling with his tariffs to the tune of $12 billion. But that money is probably not going to you.
President Trump and his administration announced he wants to give a one-time payment through the Department of Agriculture’s bridge assistance program to struggling farmers dealing with tariffs, his trade war, inflation and the cost of living – which we’re all struggling with. The Trump plan is to first distribute $11 billion by the end of February 2026 to farmers who produce what are known as row crops….things like corn, cotton, soybeans and rice. The other $1 billion ] is being withheld to distribute to other farmers who grow specialty crops at a later time.
So you may be thinking – well – if these farmers are going to get this multi billion dollar bailout surely that’s going to help them lower the price of their crops so our grocery prices will go down too…right?
So – according to the president your grocery prices are already down. Problem solved. While Trump didn’t specifically answer the question — according to today’s announcement from the Ag Department — there is no requirement of farmers to reduce their crop prices in order to receive this bailout money. It’s just money so they can keep farming.
Now – there are two issues with this bailout.
One – generally – big bailouts especially billions of dollars in bailouts like this usually need to be approved by congress. The president can’t just hand out money like this. But the Trump administration says they are using existing authorities to distribute this bailout using the tariff money they’ve collected. Now – whether congress steps in or the courts step in – we will have to wait and see. Plus – the supreme court’s ruling on whether Trump’s tariffs are even legal will probably also play a role in whether this bailout for farmers actually happens.
The other issue with this is Trump’s tariffs and more importantly the trade war he started when he came back into office. Those things in particular are what most recently has led farmers to really struggle with some having to declare bankruptcy. Now – that’s not to say farmers weren’t struggling before – they were…but when tariffs hit – China immediately stopped buying US crops including the one of biggest – soybeans … which directly and significantly impacted soybean farmers in the United States. Soybean farmers normally export more than half of their crop. And if China isn’t buying – then those farmers are losing.
But today the president didn’t mention his tariffs or his trade war once as a possible reason why these farmers need $12 billion. He blamed something else.
As I mentioned – inflation definitely hurt farmers. But inflation hurt all of us. And we know Trump’s trade war and tariffs are currently a specific problem for farmers. While Trump didn’t acknowledge that today, his Agriculture Department did. In the Ag Department’s official announcement about this bailout — it says this is being done “in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production cost.” The last thing I want to mention is the fact that for the last month — trump has been saying that the affordability crisis affecting just about everyone in the United States is a “hoax.” But if he’s bailing out farmers to the tune of $12 billion– then maybe he’s starting to realize it’s not a hoax after all and the tariffs are actually impacting pocketbooks…specifically his voters.
Read the Ag Dept. announcement here.
Watch the president’s statement here.
