How soybeans -- yes, soybeans -- could impact the midterm elections

CNN Digital Expansion 2017
By Dan Merica, CNN

Updated 8:30 AM ET, Fri June 22, 2018

Easton, Minnesota (CNN) - President Donald Trump touted his aggressive approach to trade policy Wednesday at a rally miles from Minnesota's famed Iron Range, where the administration's tariffs on imported steel have been welcomed by some in the state's mining industry. But in southern Minnesota, where generations of soybean farmers and pork producers are already used to economic uncertainty, Trump's tough talk on trade has been demoralizing.

The same tariffs that Trump touted on Wednesday have left these growers as collateral damage in an escalating fight with China. Tariffs beget tariffs in the fight, and the Chinese have targeted both American staples, pushing down commodity prices and sinking farm values.

As Republicans and Trump eye Minnesota as a key state for 2018 and beyond, they run the risk that the same tough talk on trade that made Trump so popular in the state might backfire on some of his most loyal supporters.

Time is of the essence, too. While summer is the growing season for soybeans, farmers will begin harvesting in September and October, weeks before midterm elections that will surely be seen as a political referendum on the President.

"This isn't just numbers on a sheet or percentage of trade or dollar value," said Michael Petefish, a 33-year old Trump supporter and fifth generation farmer in southern Minnesota.
Standing on the farm he will likely run for the next 40 years, he added, "This is multi-generational American families, your base, that you are now squarely putting into financial peril."

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/22/politics/soybeans-in-the-2018-election/index.html