Free Republic

Washington — American farmers are having a tough year, in no small part because of President Donald Trump’s trade war. Now, the White House is gearing up to extend them a multi-billion-dollar bailout, sources tell CNN. Surging costs and foreign retaliation from tariffs have hurt the US agriculture industry — as have immigration-related labor shortages and plummeting commodity prices. Farm production expenses are estimated to reach $467.4 billion in 2025, according to the Agriculture Department, up $12 billion from last year. Farm bankruptcies rose in the first half of the year to the highest level since 2021, according to US...

The American consumer is getting worried about the economy. Economic jitters are showing up across various sentiment surveys as the Trump administration aims to reconfigure America’s trade relationship with the world and inflation shows signs of getting stuck. The latest evidence comes from The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for February, released Tuesday morning. The index fell to 98.3, falling for the third-straight month and marking the largest monthly decline since August 2021, as expectations for inflation in the year ahead climbed. That coincides with the trends reflected in the University of Michigan’s consumer survey for February. Homebuilders are also...