President Trump toys with tariffs at our expense. He slapped a 50% tariff on Canadian goods and services despite a standing free-trade agreement. At the same time, Trump waived tariffs and cut a deal with nations unknown to bring cheap beef to market in the USA. Cattle producers felt betrayed by their man.
Canada is Iowa’s biggest customer. Our economies are interwoven: Canada supplies us feeder pigs, and we supply them finished pork. We rely almost exclusively on Canada for potash, which is exempted from the tariffs Trump announced last week. They buy our tractors.
Trump is using tariffs as bargaining leverage as talks continue on an update of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, formerly known as NAFTA. The Canadians told him to go ahead with his trade war to call his bluff. Trump said he may slap further tariffs on steel. This is not good for bilateral relations in any sense. It is bad for Iowa.
Of course we have trade disputes. Canada and the US have argued over dairy since Moses brought down the tablets. Still, Canada was our best friend in the world and is tremendously important to the Iowa economy. Our differences are manageable and trivial in the depth and breadth of our relationship. There is no reason for trade disputes other than that an agreement is being negotiated. Who around here thought we needed a trade war with Canada that could threaten energy pricing?
Courts have ruled that Trump cannot create tariffs in the absence of Congress. He ignores the courts and Congress with impunity.
The result will be more of the same, leading to higher costs yet. Canada can influence the price of potash or natural gas, also exempt for the time being. The result will be higher prices in Iowa until Congress asserts itself following the November elections.
Trump also announced that he would waive tariffs on beef from an undisclosed foreign nation, probably Argentina, to ship in 300,000 metric tons of ground beef at a price 25% below the market. Cattlemen said they were “disappointed.” Trying to flood the market before the November election to bring down prices will not help Lexington, Neb., recover from a closed Tyson plant. Iowa is a Top 10 beef state. Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson said she would try to talk sense to Trump — good luck! Nebraska and Iowa went for Trump, and now farmers live on Trump disaster payments for the disasters he creates. Hinson helped get Trump to this point.
Bringing in cheap beef so you don’t know where it came from will not build back the heifer count from prolonged drought and financial hardship. Why would you waive a tariff on a South American nation while imposing new tariffs on your best friend in the world, Canada? It’s a mixed-up deal.
It will take years to repair relationships domestic and foreign. We can start by electing a Congress that will put a check on this aimlessness. Hinson should demand of Trump that they nail down a free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, at least.
The Trump Administration is exhausting its options toward Iran. The USA is running low on bombs, supply lines for the Navy were cut, and Iran apparently has enough firepower to keep Israel and the Persian Gulf on edge. Our bombing campaign has fizzled. Comes now Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning that new economic sanctions are just around the corner. Any day now. You just wait and see.
Iran mocked Bessent. China and Russia are unmoved. We have burned our bridges with allies. It is a quagmire.
This means continued high fuel and fertilizer prices. Iran will be a weight for the incumbent party, the Republicans, going into the November election. The Texas and Iowa races for the US Senate are now toss-ups, according to Cook Political Report. Absent the Iran war, this would not be the case. Trump’s approval rating nationally is at its low, at about 30%. Independents overwhelmingly disapprove of the war.
Iowa voters historically have not been keen on foreign entanglements. They do favor trade, since we chronically grow too much corn and soy, and frown on the use of tariffs to the extent that they stifle trade and increase costs for consumers.
Trump is stuck in an unpopular war with Iran. To distract from that, he is reigniting trade wars. This cloud of confusion will linger long past the November elections. It is probable that the Republicans will lose control of the House; already, Trump emissary Jared Kushner met with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to make nice. It appears that the Senate may be in play now because of Trump’s epic and vain blunders. He is out of options with our enemies and is waging trade wars on our friends. Trump is a loser who will bring down those who have kissed his feet.
Attack ads streamed non-stop on Sunday morning. You would think that not even a mother could love Josh Turek for the awful things Ashley Hinson says about him. And they have barely begun to fight their Senate campaign. The early signs for college football viewing are depressing. The governor’s race will be loaded with money too so they can savage each other.
Tens of millions upon tens of millions of dollars. Dark money from Big Money. That’s what builds the fear. Unbridled spending by corporate dark money is allowed by the Supreme Court, which is on the take and ruled under Citizens United that money is free speech. Why would Members of Congress want to mess with feathering their own nests?
We’re stuck with it until we can get control over spending on politics. Don’t believe the ads, even the ones for your candidate. It’s just the money talking.
Welcome back to the Beavers as they begin another fall semester. It’s always fun seeing the students on campus, and it reminds us after a quiet summer how much we miss them. Buena Vista University sets Storm Lake apart. Higher education sets Iowa apart. It is a major industry that attracts students and their money, and supports thousands of faculty and staff jobs across the state.
The Upper Midwest is blessed with a strong tradition in higher education. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are known for their networks of liberal arts colleges. They build rural communities like Decorah and Waverly. Buena Vista provides cultural enrichment to Storm Lake and surrounding communities. Local high school students have been fortunate to take college-credit classes for free. The value of private colleges in Iowa is incalculable.
We should treat it as such. We don’t hear a lot from the political candidates about the importance of higher education. Nobody wants to sound like an elitist. But we need accountants, chemistry teachers, nursing supervisors, doctors and engineers. Lawyers, even. Some Republican legislators have tried to make a name for themselves by attacking and threatening private and public universities. They began to realize they were attacking their own base in places like Orange City and Sioux Center, which depend on cooperative state government to achieve workforce and economic development goals. Private schools will need all the cooperation they can get from the state as they approach a dangerous enrollment cliff.
Iowa should be known as an education destination. Chicago people like Iowa City as a safe place to send their kids for four years. Iowa State remains a national leader in ag sciences — we should listen to the agronomists, and be much better off! Buena Vista cranks out school principals and superintendents — that’s a vital mission that deserves state support and encouragement.
We appreciate Buena Vista and Northern Iowa, Wartburg and Luther, Briar Cliff and Morningside. They help define our state. They deserve our full support. Over the past few years they have argued their case under withering attack and prevailed. Let’s hope they can get back to the books this year.
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