Apr 8, 2025

Rural Voices USA weighs in on tariffs’ effect on rural America

Rural Voices USA, a bipartisan organization that promotes the interests of rural Americans, has expressed its views on how President Trump’s tariff announcement will impact growers and rural America.

“As President Trump prepares to once again impose sweeping tariffs on America’s trading partners, it’s rural America — and especially the very people who voted for him — who will pay the highest price,” Chris Gibbs, Rural USA PAC president, said in a news release. “In the middle of a deepening farm economy crisis, this couldn’t come at a worse time. Input costs are already sky-high, and these tariffs will only push them further out of reach.”

From fertilizer to machinery, everything farmers need to stay afloat will get more expensive, Gibbs, owner and operator of a 560-acre Ohio corn, soybean, alfalfa and cow/calf operation, said in the release.

“At the same time, we can expect the same kind of retaliation we saw during the last trade war — foreign tariffs aimed squarely at our farmers and ranchers. The end result? More family farms pushed to the brink. Many will simply have to fold. We’ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. American farmers lose markets they spent decades building. Global buyers turn to South America or elsewhere, and those lost markets don’t come back overnight—if they come back at all. The damage is real, and it’s lasting.

Rural Voices stated in the release that the fight against tariffs isn’t a political party issue.

“This isn’t a partisan issue,” Gibbs said in the release. “It’s an American issue that adversely affects every family farm, every rural main street business, and every community that depends on the strength of American agriculture. Whether you live in a red state or a blue one, the consequences of these policies hit home just the same.”

Rural Voices USA PAC plans to provide an opportunity for rural Americans to speak up by launching a special testimonial project to elevate the stories of rural Americans.