TRUMP PROMISES CASH AID TO FARMERS

$12-billion package would help those hurt by the president's trade war with China.

- BY SEUNG MIN KIM, JOSH FUNK AND DIDI TANG

TOMAS OVALLE For The Times PREGNANT dairy cows gather together at Mendonsa Farms in Tipton, Calif.

President Trump announced a $12-billion farm aid package Monday — a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war.

He unveiled the plan Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers and farmers who raise cattle and grow corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, rice, wheat and potatoes.

"$12 billion is a lot of money," Trump said, adding that the additional aid will help provide certainty for farmers. The money is coming from tariff revenue, he said.

Rollins said that $11 billion is being announced on Monday, and that an additional $1 billion is being held back for specialty crops as the administration works to better understand the circumstances for those farmers. The aid will move by the end of February, Rollins said.

"We looked at how they were hurt, to what extent they were hurt," Trump said in explaining how the administration came up with the size of the package. "We figured out a very exact number, and it was about $12 billion."

Farmers have backed Trump politically, but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny because of the impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader consumer worries.

The aid is the administration’s latest effort to defend Trump’s economic stewardship and answer voter angst about rising costs — even as the president has dismissed concerns about affordability as a Democratic “hoax.”

More than $1 billion is set aside for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Bridge Assistance program, which the White House says will offer onetime payments to farmers for row crops.