Overview

• President Trump has directed Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to develop programs to offset escalating tariff-related losses, while Congress and farm groups discuss structuring additional aid.
• Farmers previously received $24 billion in relief during Trump’s first term and secured $10 billion in emergency payments in the closing days of the Biden administration.
• An American Enterprise Institute study found that the top 10 percent of farms collected average subsidies of $230,700 per farm in 2018–2019, whereas midsize farms averaged $18,000 and small operations received virtually nothing.
• Consumers and exporters in sectors such as software, pharmaceuticals and energy faced $16 billion in tariff costs last month without comparable federal compensation.
• Critics warn that existing annual farm subsidies of about $20 billion and federally backed crop insurance already cushion farm incomes, creating a duplicative welfare system benefiting large agribusiness.