Donald Trump’s pick for his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, defends Trump’s plans for sweeping tariffs and deportation of undocumented immigrants. A leading farm state senator disagrees with at least one of those.
Vance has defended Trump’s plan for tariffs as high as ten percent, renewing concerns and memories in farm country of losses from Trump’s China tariffs. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley disagrees with Trump and Vance but cautions; “There’s a movement in both political parties for this sort of protectionism. I think for agriculture, it’s bad. But it’s just an honest disagreement that we have over policy.”
But on the sweeping deportations that Trump and Vance would pursue, even if just a planeload a day, Grassley says, “Deporting every day, 116 people, isn’t going to make much of an impact on our economy, whatever the contribution is of the people illegally entering our country.”
Grassley says H2A seasonal farm worker numbers are already adjusted as needed and argues Trump is constitutionally justified in enforcing the immigration laws.
Separately, Grassley declined to criticize USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s recent defense of EPA, agreeing it was Congress that empowered EPA to regulate farming and other sectors. He says, “It did delegate too much regulation writing to the EPA. Now that’s going to be the overturning of the regulation last week by the courts, will affect that, very definitely.”
He’s referring to the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of 40-year-old judicial deference to agency decision-making, opening for court review EPA pesticide, effluent, and air pollution rules.
Story by Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau; courtesy of NAFB News Service