A Republican member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Thursday slammed President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China and US allies, arguing that the $12 billion bailout for farmers is a warning that those actions are hurting the US agriculture industry.
“I’m not for bailouts. I’m not happy about that. And a lot of farmers aren’t as well,” Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day,” ahead of the President’s visit to Iowa later in the day.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is offering up to $12 billion in aid to farmers to help mitigate the retaliatory tariffs stemming from Trump’s widening trade feud with other countries.
“It’s an admonition that tariffs are harming agriculture and harming farmers,” Young said of the aid package.
While he said that he does not like bailouts, Young argued that the emergency aid package “may be needed, though, because this is coming from the effect of what the administration has done.”
Young was also asked by Camerota about his Republican colleagues Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan’s resolution to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Rosenstein has been in the crosshairs of the President and his conservative allies in Congress for a number of reasons, including his role overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
“I don’t see a reason to impeach him at this moment,” Young said, adding later, “Impeachment’s a big deal…This seems to be more of a inside baseball, parlor games-kind of issue that’s popped up here before we go into our August work break.”