The group said: “Farmer bankruptcies have doubled, barely half of all farms will be profitable this year, and the US is running a historic agriculture trade deficit.”Statistics support their case. About one-fifth of all US agricultural production is exported, and soybeans made up 13.9% of these exports by value in 2024. The president also pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the letter said would have boosted farm exports by $4.4bn. In 2025, crop farmers in the USA lost $34.6m, according to the American Farm Bureau agricultural organisation and lobbying group. Farmers will be one of the groups watching closely for a Supreme Court verdict on the legality of Trump’s tariffs.

Source: Irish Examiner February 18, 2026 16:36 UTC