Chuck Grassley Asked Point Blank How Trump's Tariffs Will Impact Farmers In Iowa

Forbes Breaking News

At a town hall on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked about how tariffs will impact farmers in Iowa.

Transcript

00:00So has anybody come to talk about the farm bill?

00:04Okay, nobody wants...

00:06I have a farm question.

00:07Go ahead.

00:08Okay, my son has cattle.

00:10Yes.

00:10And he works a regular job and then he has cow-calf pairs.

00:16Sure.

00:16And so I just wonder how the tariffs will affect someone like him.

00:22So if market-wise and long-term.

00:25From this standpoint, it could affect...

00:28It's too early to make a judgment if what I'm going to say will happen.

00:33But for instance, one benefit might be from the fact that Australia today doesn't take our beef.

00:46So if Australia is one of those hundred countries that have come to Washington now to negotiate

00:51because Trump put the tariffs on and we can get our beef into Australia,

00:56that would be to his benefit.

00:59But it could also be negative from the standpoint that if people don't negotiate,

01:06because there's a lot more countries than the hundred that so far come to the table,

01:12then we know from past years, not just under Trump but under other presidents,

01:22that when you put something negative like a tariff on some country,

01:27they seem to retaliate against agriculture issues.

01:34Now, I think it's probably more grain than it is livestock, as an example.

01:44Okay, then, Prescript, go ahead.

01:46Well, I have an aligned question from a colleague in Fairfield.

01:50It says, Senator Grassley, thank you for co-sponsoring the Trade Review Act 2025,

01:54which would restore congressional oversights of President Trump's tariffs.

02:02Given the uncertain fate of that bill in the House,

02:05what additional measures are you taking to protect your constituents and other Americans

02:11from the risks of inflation and recession likely to result from President Trump's tariffs

02:16and from his lack of consistency, which undermines agriculture and business planning?

02:23Excellent.

02:24Okay.

02:26First of all, since you asked a question about my bill,

02:32it's prospective, not retroactive.

02:37And the reason it's raised now is if I had raised this bill a year or two ago

02:44when nobody was talking about tariffs,

02:45who would care what Grassley wants to do about recapturing the constitutional power of Congress

02:52to regulate interstate and foreign commerce?

02:55But now Trump has raised the issue of tariffs.

03:00It gives me a chance to make up for the mistakes that were done in 63 and 74.

03:08And remember, from 1954 until 1981, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress

03:16for all those years, and they passed tariff bills in 63 and 74

03:23that basically gave away Congress's power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce

03:29to a president, whoever he is.

03:32And both Republicans and Democrats have exercised some of that power.

03:40So this is my attempt to recapture that power for the Congress of the United States

03:47where it shouldn't have been given up in the first place.

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