Washington, Jul 25 (EFE).- President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China of “viciously” attacking US farmers amid a burgeoning trade war between the two nations.
“China is targeting our farmers, who they know I love & respect, as a way of getting me to continue allowing them to take advantage of the US,” the president said on Twitter.
“They are being vicious in what will be their failed attempt. We were being nice – until now! China made $517 Billion on us last year,” Trump tweeted.
The US Department of Agriculture launched Tuesday a $12 billion program to compensate farmers hit by tariffs imposed by China and other countries in retaliation for Trump’s trade measures.
The step constitutes recognition by the Trump administration that its aggressive, protectionist agenda has started to cause negative effects for US producers.
The new subsidies will mainly benefit soybean, dairy, and pork farmers hurt by China’s tariffs.
Trump has raged about China’s trade surplus with the United States since taking office in January 2017 and embarked at the start of this month on a fully fledged trade war.
The first shot was Washington’s imposition of a 25 percent tariff of Chinese imports worth $34 billion, a step that brought a similar response from Beijing.
A few days later, the Trump administration extended the tariffs on Chinese imports to a range of products valued at more than $200 billion, prompting further retaliation from the government of President Xi Jinping.