Arkansas’ elected officials know President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is hurting the state. They just don’t appear to know exactly what to do about it.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, in his weekly radio address Oct. 11, noted the importance of the timber industry to Arkansas and its dependence on exports. “Until recently, China was our biggest timber market, but with the trade war, exports of U.S. timber to China have fallen by 40%,” he said.
The trade war has been a double whammy for Arkansas, with our soybean farmers also coming under metaphorical fire.
Farmers and lumbermen in the state don’t necessarily disagree with Trump’s stated reasons for tariffs, one of which is to correct unfair trade practices. But as Joe Rogers of Rogers Lumber Co. of Camden said, in Trade War Cuts Deep in Arkansas, our Page 1 story on the hardwood industry, “What Trump is attempting to do is a good thing, but it’s a 10-, 15-year plan.”
This president is not known for planning.
Federal aid totaling $28 billion has helped the nation’s farmers, but the timber industry hasn’t shared in that assistance. In July, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., signed on to a letter asking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to include hardwood lumber producers in future trade mitigation assistance packages. But even if the administration were to comply, the state’s lumber producers, like the state’s farmers, would prefer trade to aid.
Trump won Arkansas overwhelmingly in 2016, and the Chinese have been strategic in levying their tariffs to inflict damage on the president’s supporters. In addition, the Chinese — whose culture, unlike Trump, is known for taking the long view — don’t have to worry about pesky elections.
Perhaps Arkansas’ elected leaders can prevail on the president to actually develop a trade-war plan and convey it to the people likely to be its casualties.
We live in hope.
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