Trump gets ad support for China tariff war as farmers push for economic relief

Washington Examiner ^ | September 26, 2025 11:16 am | Naomi Lim

[E. Pluribus Unum]

EXCLUSIVE — A conservative organization is underscoring President Donald Trump’s work supporting homegrown agriculture production and food security amid his tariff war with China with a new advertisement campaign.

The six-figure ad buy by the Protecting America Initiative, a nonprofit organization, on Friday comes after Trump this week announced that some of the $165.2 billion tariff revenue raised during this fiscal year to date would be redirected toward farmer relief.

The 30-second spot, “The Real Enemy,” will air on TV and be amplified on digital platforms for the next three weeks in Washington, D.C.

“The food on your table is at risk, but the real enemy isn’t here at home,” a narrator says. “China’s hunger for control could threaten every bite you take. But one man stands strong between China and our food security.”

The narrator adds, “President Trump is fighting back. His tough tariffs are sticking it to China. And he’s working hard to protect our farmers and keep our food homegrown and secure.”

PAI was started by Trump administration special envoy for special missions Richard Grenell and former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf last year to encourage Trump and Republicans to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s endeavors to undermine the U.S. economy, food supply, lawmaking process, and educational systems.

For example, PAI held a roundtable before last year’s election with Trump and farmers in Pennsylvania to discuss the CCP’s repercussions on the agriculture industry and food security.

“The campaign emphasizes the importance of keeping the U.S. food supply chain strong, resilient, and rooted in American farms and...”

[central_va]

I am not sure why domestic producers need help from import tariffs.

[central_va]

Tariff revenue is WAY more than $162 billion.

[VAFreedom]

One of the justifications for saving American farmers is that we need to protect our nation’s food supply. I don’t understand this argument. Farmers need bailouts because they can’t sell soybeans to China, but that means those soybeans were never going to Americans - they were going to be exported for cash. How does it hurt American food supplies if those farmers go bankrupt? That’s just business - they bet on a good relationship with China, and now that relationship is gone. American families aren’t eating all those soybeans, the Chinese were.

So why exactly bail them out?

It would be different if they were growing food that was going to American supermarkets. Say there was some massive drought or something and corn crops failed. Ok, I totally get that we would need to bail out corn growers in that case because Americans do eat a ton of corn and we put corn syrup in everything.

But soybeans? Which Americans are eating a ton of soybeans? Who’s going to go hungry because soybean farmers go out of business? Someone explain to me why they should be bailed out.