Trump set to unveil $15.5b aid for farmers hit by trade war

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Dec 8 plans to unveil a long-awaited farm aid package, according to a White House official, offering US$12 billion (S$15.5 billion) in assistance to a key base of support hit hard by low crop prices and the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

The aid will include up to US$11 billion in one-time payments to crop farmers under the Department of Agriculture’s newly designed Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) programme, while the remaining is reserved for crops not covered under the FBA, according to the official, who asked not to be identified as the information is not public. 

Mr Trump plans to announce the package during an event with corn, cotton, sorghum, soya bean, rice, cattle, wheat and potato farmers, alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, according to the official. 

The action echoes support Mr Trump offered during his first term, when the US and China were also locked in a trade war, and comes amid mounting frustration from lawmakers in the President’s own party over the economic pain farmers are experiencing and growing calls to address the issue

ahead of 2026’s midterm elections

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Farming communities, which voted overwhelmingly for Mr Trump in the 2024 election, have seen export markets for many crops dry up and federal safety net programmes shrink in the President’s second term. Soya bean farmers have faced particular strain as

Chinese purchases completely stalled earlier in 2025

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Soya bean purchases have since gradually ramped up after an agreement in late October between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China in November made its biggest daily buy of American soya beans in two years, and the total volume sold to the Asian nation since Oct 30 has so far amounted to 2.25 million tonnes, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

But current quantities are still short of what American farmers are hoping to ship abroad, and far behind the 12 million tonnes of US soya beans the US said China will buy by the end of February – a target Mr Bessent last week said Beijing is on track to meet.

In 2024, the US made up one-fifth of China’s soya bean imports, worth more than US$12 billion. 

The funds for the new programme have been authorised under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and will be administered by the Farm Service Agency, according to the official. 

Mr Trump had earlier floated a plan to use tariff revenue for the programme, the announcement of which had been delayed by a government shutdown. 

During his first term, Mr Trump handed out US$28 billion to farmers in 2018 and 2019 to make up for losses from a tariff spat with China. While the aid gave producers short-term financial relief, the trade war had lasting consequences, pushing China to gradually deepen its reliance on Brazil to meet its soya bean demand over the past few years.

Even with a run-up in soya bean futures over the past month on China trade hopes, crop prices are still close to the lowest levels since 2020, eroding farmers’ income at a time when costs including fertilisers are climbing.

In March, the USDA announced a plan to pay farmers as much as US$10 billion under the so-called Emergency Commodity Assistance Programme, which was authorised by Congress in late 2024 to help mitigate the impact of increased input costs and falling commodity prices.

Over US$9 billion has been paid out as at Nov 23, with corn and soya bean farmers receiving the bulk of the funds, according to USDA data. 

Mr Trump has also criticised his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, of doing nothing to “enforce” a soya bean purchase agreement that was included in a so-called Phase One trade deal with China. That deal was negotiated during Mr Trump’s first term. BLOOMBERG