SMITHTON, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump has threatened to slap tariffs of 200% on John Deere if it moves its production to Mexico — and farmers say it’s about time the company feels the heat.
“It should have been higher,” farmer George Greenwalt told The Post. “Make it to the point that it’s not profitable. Then they’ll know how a farmer feels.”
The Post spoke to several farmers just before Trump barnstormed southwest Pennsylvania’s rural and red districts Monday, where he heard from local farmers and manufacturers wondering how to survive this economy, and in the days following.
While there, the ex-prez attended a roundtable to discuss the agricultural industry’s concerns about competition with China but eventually changed gears to another issue facing farmers: John Deere, a giant of the agriculture industry, laying off workers and planning to shift some manufacturing from Iowa to Mexico.
“I’m just notifying John Deere right now: If you do that, we’re putting a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States,” said Trump, who’s already vowed blanket tariffs up to 20% on all imports into the US, and 60% to 100% on imports from China.
John Deere’s move to Mexico, though only partial, has ticked off farmers, who have begun referring to the centuries-old American manufacturer as “Juan Deere.”
It’s no surprise Trump’s tariff threat resonated strongly with Pennsylvania farmers — they say they’re tired of being burdened with rising costs.
“They can’t be high enough,” Greenwalt said of the proposed tariffs on John Deere.
“We’ve been buying John Deeres for 40 years. Now they want to move away for a little bit of cost savings,” he added. “The only people who are going to pay for it is the farmers.”
“They don’t care about their customers no more,” he said, citing constant software issues with his own John Deere tractor.
Before the roundtable began, 50-year-old Greenwalt, a Trump supporter, pointed to the same green tractor Trump would later reference, telling The Post the machine isn’t worth the exorbitant expenses.
“You can’t get enough out of that product in 20 years to pay it off,” he said, adding that rising costs of fuel, equipment and fertilizer don’t help.
“It’s not just the tractor. It’s everything,” he said, describing the squeeze farmers are feeling from inflation under Biden.
“I’m breaking even every week. You don’t work six months dark to dark to break even,” Greenwalt said, adding he can no longer afford to buy nice things for his wife.
“We have to do something,” Eric Davanzo, a Smithton farmer and Republican state representative, told The Post. “We’re hitting that tipping point in America. We have to bring jobs back. We have to start taking care of our own.”
But fears over a possible trade war and the price of tariffs on consumers have some farmers on the fence.
“I like the idea of tariffs to punish them for leaving, but it’s going to hurt us too,” said Darrell Becker, a Trump supporter and Fayette County Farm Bureau president.
Though Becker hopes Trump’s tariff threat will make John Deere reconsider any move to Mexico, he’s still not sure if he supports the measure.
“What’s 200% tariffs gonna do to me on buying a John Deere tractor?” he asked. “I know if John Deere goes overseas, they could be cheaper.”
“I’m sure there are costs that’ll be passed onto the farmer,” Ben Logan, a farmer from Irwin told The Post. “But I’m more worried about the tit for tat.”
Logan recalled the trade wars of the Trump administration when China retaliated with tariffs on soybean and corn, which Logan grows on his thousand-acre farm.
“There were a couple years of pain financially, but it did have results for a few years,” he said, referring to the years of record-high US soybean exports to China.
Though Logan supports targeted tariffs to protect manufacturing, he’s uneasy about overusing them.
“With government there’s always unintended consequences,” said Logan, a self-described “small government conservative.”
“John Deere is no friend of the American farmer, but tariffs are a slippery slope.”
Sam DeMarco, an Allegheny County councilman and GOP county chair, said the Trump tariffs would be purely strategic. With China, on the other hand, it’s an eye for an eye.
“It’s like a schoolyard. Sometimes bullies need to get punched in the face,” DeMarco told The Post.
