Trump praises ?patriot? farmers while bashing Biden

Updated 06/11/2019 09:47 PM EDTCOUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — President Donald Trump is determined to stay in the good graces of America’s farmers even as his trade policies threaten their livelihoods.Trump returned to Iowa on Tuesday in his first trip to the state since before the 2018 midterm election. “He was someplace in Iowa today and he said my name so many times that people couldn’t stand it anymore,” Trump said of the man the president views as his chief Democratic rival. Biden, speaking in the state Tuesday, said “there are a heck of a lot of Iowans being crushed by his tariffs” who would like to see details of a secret deal Trump says he struck with Mexico.With fear rippling through the state’s agriculture sector, Trump used the speech, which was staged in an ethanol facility, to tick off a list of things he's doing for Iowa, from overturning regulations to assisting the state with recent flooding to signing an executive order to speed up reviews of biotechnology needed by farmers. There’s no other way to say it,” said David Oman, an Iowa consultant who served as chief of staff to two of the state’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad and Robert Ray.Oman added that farmers, who are already struggling after bad weather delayed their planting season, are in wait-and-see mode, hoping that Trump can reach a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease trade tensions. Iowa Republican leaders maintain that the state’s farmers are willing to absorb the economic fallout from Trump’s tariffs — at least for now — if it means getting a beneficial deal with China.“Yes, there’s concern. Iowa growers lost millions of dollars worth of commodities in March when the floodwaters swamped storage sites jam-packed with crops that farmers were unable to sell because of the trade impasse.But Trump’s defenders say farmers have taken solace in the president’s recent trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, which the administration is hoping to move through Congress in the coming months. They were also relieved that the president didn’t impose across-the-board tariffs on Mexico, a threat that was averted after the two nations reached an agreement meant to stem the tide of migrants into the United States.“Farmers will ultimately hold the president accountable on a variety of things, trade included,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, who attended Tuesday’s ethanol event.