Minnesota farmers fret about ‘chaos and uncertainty’ following latest Trump tariffs
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Some Minnesota farmers urged President Donald Trump to reconsider a new round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China and said Tuesday that the trade showdown would hurt the state’s agriculture industry.
The latest round of Trump administration tariffs hit hard and provoked an immediate response by the countries on the other end. Trump said he put them in place because he felt the countries’ leaders were not taking strong enough measures to prevent fentanyl from coming across the U.S. border.
The new tariffs include a 10 percent tariff hike on Chinese goods (now up to 20 percent), along with a 25 percent levy on most imports from Canada and Mexico.
“He creates a lot of chaos and uncertainty in the farming community,” said Danny Lundell, a corn and soybean farmer from Cannon Falls said of Trump and his action. “There's a lot of nervousness going on right now.”
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The countries involved are the top three U.S. trade partners, as well as significant markets for Minnesota. The tariffs — along with retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and Canada — sent waves through the financial markets and generated concern for various sectors of the economy.
On the social media site Truth Social, Trump said American farmers should focus on selling their goods within their own country.
“Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd,” he wrote. “Have fun!”
Lundell and his cousin Stan Lundell, who also farms row crops and raises beef cattle outside Cannon Falls, said the call to focus on domestic sales breaks with the reality of the agriculture economy.
“There's not enough market domestically,” he said. “Everything we produce far exceeds what the domestic market could handle.”
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen echoed the concerns about how the new trade stance could play out. He said the state’s agriculture industry is already facing a precarious moment. January farm-lender mediation reports were seven times higher than they were a year ago, he said. The process is meant to help resolve farm debts without going to court.
“We know that these tariffs are going to add a lot of stress and a lot of uncertainty to our farmers,” Petersen said. “I hope that as we work with the USDA, as we work with our congressional delegation, that calmer heads prevail, and they're able to get to this piece where we're negotiating and back to building relationships, because I think that that's what we feel works.”
Petersen said the state had expanded trade relationships to reduce the impact of the hit from the last round of trade changes issued under Trump’s first term. And while those — and state efforts to boost agriculture programs — can help minimize economic damage, he said the tariffs have a broad and sweeping impact.
DFL Gov. Tim Walz said farmers already face enough challenges and the federal government shouldn’t penalize its top trade partners.
“The uncertainties that are out of their control, producers have always dealt with that. It's the manmade disasters that are avoidable and the ones that we really need to keep a look on building markets and having a place for our commodities,” Walz said. “We have to be trusted trading partners, because folks are working too hard out here, producing what the world needs.”
Minnesota budget officials are set to present the state’s economic forecast on Thursday. The tariffs and other federal government actions are not expected to be incorporated in the report, but will play a role in state lawmakers’ decision-making as they write a two-year state budget.
Walz said he would consider ways to offset the potential hit to Minnesota’s economy as he revises his budget after the forecast.
“The Legislature and all of us need to work together with all this uncertainty federally. I think it behooves all of us to provide some calm and certainty here, to reach some compromises, to get along together, get things done on time,” Walz said. “We don't want to add any more uncertainty.”
Correction (March 4, 2025): A previous version of this report incorrectly stated that President Joe Biden visited the farm in Cannon Falls. It has been updated.