JEFFERSON CITY • After Missouri’s new Gov. Mike Parson hosted the state’s congressional delegation earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., was the first to exit his Jefferson City office — and she eagerly approached the reporter scrum gathered in the hallway.
“I certainly expressed concerns for the ag community on this looming trade war,†McCaskill said, “and what a devastating impact that could have on Missouri’s economy if all of our export nations begin putting retaliatory tariffs on our ag products.â€
McCaskill, a Democrat facing re-election this year, may have spotted an opening as she tries to appeal to rural voters in an increasingly red state. Escalating trade tension had sent shock waves through the state’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors and could affect voters who propelled President Donald Trump to Washington.
People are also reading…
Attorney General Josh Hawley, her likely Republican opponent, has generally embraced Trump’s abrasive tactics, arguing that the long-term outcome of Trump’s negotiations could outweigh any short-term harm.
McCaskill’s campaign said Friday that Hawley continued to “stand by the president’s trade war,†while Hawley’s campaign complained that McCaskill has “politicized†the issue and “ignored farm interests here for years.â€
The daylight between the two candidates could offer contrasts for voters this November, if both candidates win their party primaries.
“She (McCaskill) has to have decent support from rural Missouri in order to have a chance,†said Terry Smith, political science professor at Columbia College. “From a political point of view, the timing of the impact is important. ... Will it kick in in time to potentially impact the ‘18 elections?â€
China, one of the main targets of Trump’s trade moves, is Missouri’s third-largest trading partner behind Canada and Mexico, with the state exporting $926 million worth of goods to the country last year.
The worries among Missouri’s agricultural and business people started in March when Trump announced steep tariffs on imported aluminum and steel.
While the country’s steel and aluminum producers cheered the new barriers, consumers of the materials — including farmers purchasing equipment — worried about increased prices. And in response, China slapped tariffs on American goods, including pork, a key Missouri agricultural export.
U.S. Steel restarting one of two blast furnaces less than a week after President Trump announced tariffs on imported steel.Â
On Wednesday, McCaskill joil of the aluminum and steel tariffs during a Senate hearing. She said Mid Continent Nail Corp. in Poplar Bluff, Mo., had laid off 60 employees due to rising prices.
“The 25 percent tariff on the wire we use to make our nails is pricing us out of the market,†George Skarich, Mid Continent’s executive vice president for sales, said in a news release sent out by McCaskill’s office. “Cheap nail imports from China and other countries don’t face this tariff and are increasing every day. We need our wire to be excluded from this tariff or we will have to increase the layoffs we’ve already begun.â€
Ao , 5 percent of the state’s total imports are made up of aluminum and steel, meaning Missouri is more reliant on the imports than is the country as a whole.
“We could be at the forefront of feeling some of those negative effects,†said Dan Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “until, I hope, they (the tensions) resolve themselves.
“It’s going to be a disruption right now,†he added.
While a bipartisan group of lawmakers — including Missouri’s Republican U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt — expressed concern over those tariffs in March, Hawley expressed support for Trump’s m.
“Trade is good for Missouri workers and farmers when our trade partners follow the same rules we do,†he said then. “Most of our trade partners do. But one in particular doesn’t: China. China systematically abuses the global trade system, and we should respond firmly to defend American workers.â€
Earlier this month, the United States moved forward with tariffs on $50 billion on Chinese goods, which target a slew of products ranging from ball bearings to agricultural machinery. China responded immediately, announcing tariffs on $50 billion in American goods, including on soybeans.
The U.S. is expected to start imposing the tariffs on July 6, with China expected to follow suit in retaliation.
On Friday, soybean futures were trading at $8.94 per bushel at the market’s close, down from $10.76 on March 2, according to the RMB Group.
Patrick Westhoff, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, said several factors had reduced the price of soybeans recently, including trade tension and the expectation of a healthy crop this year.
“The combination of expecting a big crop and expecting reduced demand from China has really put a hammer on soybean prices,†he told the Post-Dispatch.
When asked last week if his concern over the United States’ international disputes had intensified, Blake Hurst, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, said: “I think it would be fair to say that I’m becoming more concerned as time goes on.
“Clearly, tariffs on steel from China increase the cost of the things farmers buy,†he added. “Retaliatory tariffs put in place by China will reduce the price of the things we sell. It’s that simple.â€
In response to a Post-Dispatch inquiry, Hawley said in a statement that Trump “is right to take a strong approach to shake up our trade posture†in regard to China.
last week’s tariffs would prevent “further unfair transfers of American technology and intellectual property to China, which will protect American jobs.â€
“I’ve said this throughout the process: We’ll judge his tactics by the deal he gets,†Hawley said. “I am against anything that hurts Missouri farmers, and I’ve been in talks with our agriculture community about this.â€