[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5035-S5036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Tariffs

  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about tariffs and 
their impact on Montana's family farmers and businesses. In Montana we 
have more than 27,000 family farms and ranches. Folks who farm and 
ranch these lands are descendants of homesteaders and pioneers, 
including myself. They are also young producers who may be preparing 
for their first harvest. Might I add that we don't have enough young 
producers in our State. The population of farmers is getting far too 
old.
  These folks work 7 days a week, for long hours, to raise the food 
that feeds our families across this world, and they power our rural 
economies in this country. Farmers and ranchers are small business 
operators and owners who are always on tight margins and always are 
looking to make sure that they can make the books balance by being on 
the positive side of the ledger. Why? So they can keep their farms and 
ranches viable to be able to have the next generation take over their 
operation. Just like any other business--a local bar or a hardware 
store--you need to be able to make a profit to stay in business.
  Producers need to make sure that they have predictability in input 
costs--we are talking about fertilizers, fuel, and seed--and 
predictability in markets, the places where we sell our grain, which 
has always been a challenge and which has become more of a challenge 
over the past 6 months. When farmers plant a crop, they need to know 
there is a market for that crop, because if there is not, it can put 
them in a world of hurt financially.
  Unfortunately, in Montana, we are preparing to harvest winter wheat 
crops as we speak. Spring wheat crops will soon be coming, pulse crops 
will soon be coming, and oil seeds will soon be coming. The fact is 
that there is no certainty in any of those crops right now. Why? 
Because our farmers and our ranchers are being used as pawns in a trade 
war that I can guarantee not one of them asked for.
  This trade war is eliminating access to foreign markets that have 
taken generations to develop and putting family farm and ranch 
operations in a financial pinch--such a severe financial pinch that we 
haven't seen anything like it since the 1980s, when we saw a mass 
exodus off the land due to bad ag prices.
  The retaliatory tariffs against family farmers and ranchers is 
harming Montana's No. 1 industry, agriculture. Montana's grain 
producers produce about $2 billion worth of wheat, barley, pulse crops, 
and oil seeds every year. Since the middle of June, the price of No. 1 
Dark Northern Spring wheat in southeastern Montana has fallen more than 
60 cents a bushel. That is more than 10 percent, and the same can be 
said throughout the State of Montana.
  To put that in perspective, just think what would happen in your 
business if your prices were reduced by 10 percent right off the top. 
It would put you in a world of financial hurt, and that is where 
Montana's farms and ranches are today. If prices continue to plummet, 
some of these families who have been on the land for over 100 years 
will be forced to make some very difficult decisions in the next 6 to 8 
months.

  These tariffs are eliminating producers' access to foreign markets--
markets that are in Asia and Europe and markets in Canada and Mexico. 
In Montana, we sell our grains and our beef to these countries and 
others: China, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Pacific Rim countries, and 
European Union countries. These exports didn't just pop up overnight. 
They came to fruition after years of hard work, good faith and trust, 
and negotiations.
  Negotiations and trust are being thrown out the window with these 
tariff fights. In some cases--Japan, for example--it has taken multiple 
generations to establish these export markets. If we lose them, it will 
take many generations to get them back. Countries such as Argentina and 
Russia are circling the markets like sharks, wanting to strike the 
minute we lose a grip on them to fill those voids.
  Take, for instance, Mexico. Mexico is the largest importer of Montana 
barley in the world. For years, Mexico bought Montana's barley to be 
able to make beers, like Corona and others. These tariffs have put 
those markets at risk to the point that one Mexican barley buyer told 
one of the folks from the barley association of Montana: I don't know 
that we can depend on America to supply our barley anymore because 
these tariffs have put our markets at risk.
  As a result, Mexico, which is a huge importer of American wheat, just 
this last spring turned toward Argentina for their wheat for the first 
time ever. They signed a contract for Argentine wheat to take the place 
of the wheat from this country, of which Montana is a part and will no 
longer be supplying.
  The real question is, How long is this going to have to go on? We are 
faced with enough uncertainties in production and agriculture with 
weather, drought, hail, bugs, and disease. The list goes on. 
Unfortunately, this is a manmade problem.
  I get it. I think the President is right when he talks about holding 
China accountable. They have stolen a lot of intellectual property. 
They manipulate their currency. But to put on tariffs where retaliation 
comes on ag products is not the right direction to go. We can get their 
attention by other ways.
  I would also say that these tariffs aren't just felt by farmers and 
ranchers. They are felt by other businesses too. For builders, for 
example, their costs are going up. In 2016, the voters of Missoula, MT, 
approved a $30 million bond to build a new city library. They started 
the project, but tariffs on steel sent material costs soaring. Now the 
cost of rebar alone has increased the cost of the project by $100,000. 
Library officials have told me that as a direct result of these 
tariffs, they are preparing with a need to go out and raise another 
$500,000 to finish this project. The people of our State have to pay 
that price.
  One of Montana's fastest growing industries is microbreweries. It is 
a real success story, employing a lot of folks and adding value to 
grains in our State. They are being hit hard by tariffs on aluminum. 
These emerging businesses have no other option but to pass that cost on 
to their patrons.
  So we are paying both ways, folks. We are paying on the tariffs 
coming in, and we are paying on the tariffs being put on our products 
going out.
  In agribusiness, for example, everything that is made of steel is 
going up and going up significantly. From I-beams to cattle guards, to 
posts for fencing, to metal for storage bins, anything made out of 
steel is going up significantly. Manufacturers who have been on the 
rebound since the 2008 financial crisis now have a hard time bidding 
contracts on materials. Less of their money is going into their 
pockets, if there is any left at all, because of these tariffs. Every 
sector of our economy is feeling the pinch of this escalating trade 
war.
  Fair trade is really important. Getting manufacturing back to this 
country is really important, but it doesn't appear that we are doing 
those things. Instead, we are putting our existing businesses--whether 
it is in production or agriculture, construction or manufacturing--at 
risk with these trade wars.
  We should have open markets. Those markets need to go in both 
directions, but we shouldn't be driving people into bankruptcy in the 
meantime. That is what is happening.
  I ask: What is the end game? If this trade war continues, I had an ag 
banker tell me that family farms and ranchers have about 18 months 
before they have to start liquidating. That is the reality we are 
facing, and that is not very long.
  That is the reason why this body needs to understand that we need to 
send strong messages to the administration that they can't use farms, 
ranches, and small businesses as bargaining chips. Their livelihoods 
are on the line.
  Earlier this month, I hosted a roundtable discussion on tariffs at 
the Billings Chamber of Commerce. I was able to meet Montanans eyeball 
to eyeball,

[[Page S5036]]

and I heard their concerns. This is not a political issue. These 
tariffs aren't targeted toward Democrats or Republicans. They are 
targeted at everyone. Ag producers at this moment in time are probably 
carrying the majority of the load. It needs to stop before the damage 
is irreversible.
  My grandparents homesteaded the land that we farm and lived through 
the 1930s. My folks, who took over the land, took the farm over in the 
early 1940s and lived through a lot of hard times themselves. My wife 
and I took the farm over in the late 1970s, and we saw what happened in 
the 1980s. We have seen what happens in agriculture, where so many of 
the folks can't make it on the farm anymore, and they have to have jobs 
off the farm to be able to make the books balance.
  These tariffs are making things harder. We have been down difficult 
paths in this country before. I don't believe we can afford another 
punch to the gut in rural America. I will continue to fight for and 
defend the folks who put food on our table, but their bottom lines are 
being severely, severely impacted by this trade war.
  Now look, the legislation we passed last week is a start. The Senate 
version of the farm bill provides a safety net, but I am here to state 
that if things continue to go south for our markets, we are going to be 
faced with a bill that dumps a bunch of money into production 
agriculture to keep these folks afloat. Why? Because of tariffs that 
are being put on ag products. It doesn't have to be this way.
  We are an equal branch of government. I believe that both Republicans 
and Democrats can work on this issue in a commonsense way, especially 
in this body. The administration needs to understand that if they keep 
continuing down this war of who can put the most tariffs on products, 
we are going to have a hard time keeping our businesses afloat, 
particularly our family farms and ranches in this country. That will 
not help with food security for our country, and the long-term negative 
impacts of that are unacceptable.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.