U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins visits Iowa ahead of new tariffs

WAUKEE, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) - Monday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is in Iowa for a tour of different farms and agriculture facilities.

This comes as President Donald Trump is planning to unveil new tariffs Wednesday. He’s calling it “Liberation Day”.

After a tour of a Waukee farm, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says she’s on the same page with President Donald Trump that the country is on the raw end of trade deals and higher tariffs on foreign goods are needed.

“Our products are tariffed at a very high rate, sometimes 50,100,150,200% higher and then we don’t do the same thing,” she said,

After the tour, Rollins told reporters that the onslaught of tariffs may be difficult.

“He believes very sincerely that for the long term, that this is the right move for the country that ultimately the economy will thrive and all Americans will be better off. But from my perspective, farmers and ranchers off than ever before. But we have some, you know, maybe a couple weeks, maybe a few months while we’re working all of that out,” she said.

In 2018, the Trump Administration sent tens of billions in tax dollars to farmers to offset losses from tariffs. Rollins says the USDA is working on market disruption payments, but nothing is final.

“We don’t have quite the funds back then because under the last administration, a lot of those were spent. But we’re working on that right now and as soon as we fully understand the consequences - positive and otherwise - of these new negotiations, renegotiations, we’ll have more announcements on that moving forward,” she said.

Rollins says Trump’s ultimate goal is to get to fair trade, but until we get there, we have to make some significant changes.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV on X/Twitter @ConnerReports, and on TikTok @ConnerReports.