Well, thank you very much, and thank you for being here as we take a very vital action to protect and defend American farmers and reduce prices for the American consumers, and we've done that in so many different fields. And this is a little bit of a different field, but we're bringing prices way down. We inherited a total mess from the Biden administration: the highest inflation in the country's history and very, very high prices. And prices are coming down, and they're very, very far down on energy. Energy's come—in fact, we hit a very important number, a sacred number. We had three states in the last two days reported by our energy group, a group of very strong energy people, who said we hit $1.99 a gallon in three different states. And that's an amazing accomplishment because the gasoline prices are coming down. When gasoline comes down, everything—it's such a big category—that when gasoline comes down, sort of everything sort of follows. But we inherited a mess, affordability, but you can call it affordability or anything you want, but the Democrats caused the affordability problem, and we're the ones that are fixing it. So it's a very simple statement: they caused it, we're fixing it. And they have a tendency to just say this election's based on affordability, and nobody questions them, John. You know, nobody says, 'Oh well, what do you mean by that?' But they just say the word. They never say anything else because they caused the problem, but we're fixing the problem. And we're pleased to be joined today by many of the wonderful members of the farming community, as well as the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins. Brooke, thank you.
President Trump Participates in a Roundtable
Thank you, sir.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Thank you very much, Scott. Senator John Boozman. Thank you, John. Good job. John Hoeven. Thank you, John. And Deb Fischer. Thank you very much. As well as Representative Austin Scott, who's been with us right from the beginning. Thank you, Austin. Good job. I'm delighted to announce this afternoon that the United States will be taking a small portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars we receive in tariffs. We are making a lot of money from countries that took advantage of us for years. They took advantage of us like nobody's ever seen. Our deficits are way down because of tariffs. I guess because of the election, because without the election, you wouldn't have tariffs. You'd be sitting here losing your shirt. But we're taking in billions, we're really taking in trillions of dollars if you think about it, Scott, because the real number is, you know, when you think of all the money being poured into the country for new auto plants and all of the other things, AI. So what we're doing is we're taking a relatively small portion of that, and we're going to be giving and providing it to the farmers in economic assistance. And we love our farmers. And as you know, the farmers like me because, you know, based on voting trends, you could call it voting trends or anything else, but they're great people. They're the backbone of our country. So we're going to use that money to provide $12 billion in economic assistance to American farmers. $12 billion is a lot of money, Merrill. What do you think? Peanuts for you, though, right? Peanuts. She's a farmer of rice. This relief will provide much-needed certainty to farmers as they get this year's harvest to market and look ahead to next year's crops. And it'll help them continue their efforts to lower food prices for American families. And again, we inherited something that—we inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country, and we're taking care of it. Farmers are an indispensable national asset, part of the backbone of America. I've always felt it so strongly, they're so important. Unfortunately, under Sleepy Joe Biden—he's a sleepy guy—our farmers were crushed by the worst inflation in modern history and crippling restrictions on energy, water, and countless other necessities for farmers. And what they did to the farmer in terms of putting the brakes on was just absolutely unacceptable. In my first term, we had an agricultural trade surplus, by a lot. We had a big surplus, meaning that we were exporting American agricultural products all over the world, making a net profit, and in many cases, a very substantial profit. He came in and ruined it. Biden turned that surplus into a gaping agricultural deficit that continues to this day, but we're knocking it down. It's starting to go very good. In fact, China, as you know, is buying a tremendous amount of soybeans. And the number—I spoke with President Xi recently, very recently—and I think he's going to do even more than he promised to do. So I think it's—the relationship is a very good one. I think he's going to do more than he promised to do, and what he promised to do is a lot. So we're very happy with that. In the last year, Biden bankruptcies rose by 55% having to do with farms. So farm bankruptcies under Joe Biden went up 55%. That's not good. But now we're once again in a position where a president is able to put farmers first. But unfortunately, I'm the only president that does that. On day one, I terminated the Green New Scam. Energy prices are down, gasoline prices are down. We've slashed record numbers of crippling regulations, and we're working on huge trade deals already securing $60 billion in agricultural purchase commitments. And you know, Biden made none. He didn't make any trade deals having to do with the farmers or any of it. It's crazy. China committed—he was the worst president in the history of our country, by the way, in case anybody has any questions. China committed over $40 billion of soybean purchase, and that's a commitment. And I asked President Xi if he could even up it. And I think he'll do that. I mean, not a commitment, the $40 billion is a commitment. But the soybean farmers are quite happy. Since my successful meeting in South Korea with President Xi, purchases have been made, and soybeans are being exported out of the United States to China as we speak. And I say that our soybeans, I told this to President Xi, our soybeans are more nutritious than competitors. Somebody said, 'Is that a Trump statement or is that real?' In fact, you know who asked me that question? President Xi asked me that question. He said, 'Really? I had never heard of it.' And he was a food purchaser for a long time. But that's what I hear. And Japan agreed to $8 billion in purchases of corn, soybeans, ethanol, fertilizer, aviation biofuel, and rice. You know, Japan never bought rice from anybody else. It's like a very important thing to them, and they agreed to buy rice, okay? Absolutely. So I also proudly signed into law the largest tax cuts in history in the one big beautiful bill, the monumental tax relief bill that is benefiting very, very strongly benefiting the American farmer. And I think also for farmers, we have, as you know, and we got this, the estate tax or the death tax, as they call it, on farmers or on small businesses. You don't have to pay it anymore. A lot of farms—you love your children, and your children are great and they want to be farmers, and you leave the farm to your children. And a lot of farms are, you know, sort of cash-poor, land-rich, cash-poor. And the kids would go to the local bank or to any bank and they'd borrow money to pay the estate tax, and they'd end up losing the farm, they go bankrupt. And a lot of death, too, you know, literally because they love their farm and they love their business and they love that way of life, they'd end up committing suicide. A lot of suicides. We have no more estate tax. How about that? Do you have children? I do. Well, let them know. Now, if you love your children, then it's good. If you don't love your children, you don't have to leave them anything. It doesn't matter what I just said. But I have a feeling you love your children. But the estate tax is a very big thing. So you don't have the estate tax. You die, you leave your farm or whatever, or small business too, to your children, you don't have to pay estate tax. It seems to affect the farmer more than anybody else because you could have a farm that's very valuable, and therefore you have to pay a big tax, but it's not a big value in terms of cash. Maximizing domestic farm production is a big part of how we will make America affordable again and bring down grocery prices for American families. And again, these are prices that we inherited. When I left, we were doing incredible. In four years, what they've done to this country in so many—and not even mentioning the border and the criminals allowed into our country and all of the others. So I just want to say it's a tremendous honor being with you. I'd now like to ask Secretary Rollins to provide some of the details, followed by Secretary Bessent, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, Senator Boozman, Representative Scott, and then we go to a couple of the farmers' representatives, but we'll all get involved a little bit. You can speak—anybody is shy to speak in front of the press, and I don't blame you if that's the case. But farmers Cort Holub and Merrill Kennedy will say a few words also, and then we'll have a little discussion, okay? Madam Secretary.
Thank you, to the greatest boss in the world for a long time now. It's just an honor to be here. I'm going to keep my comments very short because I really want to make sure that you and the world gets to hear from our farmers. So a couple of quick points. Number one, this country and our farm economy is facing a crisis that we inherited that most of these farmers have not seen in their lifetime. Profitability is down, it's just one crisis after another. When we came into office, sir, when you did and you were sworn in on January the 20th, as you mentioned, not one new trade deal had been struck in four years. The cost of inputs for our farmers: fertilizer up 36%, manual labor, labor up 47%, interest rates up 73%. When you combine the cost of inputs for our farmers married to no new trade deals, and then you're facing an administration whose priorities were DEI, climate change, putting the farmer aside—I mean, it was an absolute war on agriculture and on our rural communities. That all changed on January 20th. So as, sir, we are working and you have been just so resolute—I mean, these are our people, rural America is the fabric of our country, this is the way of life that preserves the American Dream for the next 250 years as we celebrate the first 250 years. So we began to go to work immediately. What these elected officials sitting across from us did with the one big beautiful bill with a lot of help and direction from you was the largest investment in rural America in any of our lifetimes. We will begin to see that effectuated next year in 2026. As we have fought to bring input costs down, you have—you've talked about and even this weekend did an executive order, signed one, on looking into the reason that so much of these costs have been driven up over and over: equipment, again fertilizer, seed, etc., etc. We have to make sure we understand why that is. And then the continuing of the additional trade deals across the world. And no longer will America be held and beholden to the regime of other countries' tariff infrastructure; instead, we are moving our products out across the world. Having said that, and we've been listening to the farmers for the last ten months, eleven months, sir, that the bridge that is needed to get from the last administration and what basically happened under the last president and the last US Department of Agriculture to this new Golden Age for farmers where instead of farming for government checks, they can farm to feed their family and sell their products and pass it on to the next generation, that this bridge is absolutely necessary based on where we are right now. So as the President said, we are very pleased to announce that today we're going to be effectuating an $11 billion—not trade, but bridge payment to our farmers. The money will move by February 28th of 2026. But by the end of this month, so just in the next couple of weeks, every farmer that is able to apply for it will know exactly what that number looks like. So as you are going to your lender, as you are working to ensure and understanding what you can plant for next year, you will have that number in hand. And we will continue to talk to our farmers, continue to understand exactly what this looks like and what is necessary. We have—final thing I'll say is—
$12 billion.
Well, we're holding $1 billion back. So today we're announcing $11 billion. We are holding $1 billion back just to ensure that we are covering. So today's announcement covers all of our row crops, all of our row crops, but some specialty crops and others that we are still working with to best understand where they are in the farm economy and ensure that we're making every forward-moving position that we need to. And then finally, as we move to this new Golden Age for agriculture and for rural America, as we continue to fight for these farmers and ranchers, their way of life, and those that are represented here represent hundreds of thousands of farmers across this country, just know that this President—I have never been around anyone who every time we talk, he asks, 'How are my farmers?' every single time. So we will never stop fighting, we'll make sure that we're doing everything we can to ensure the next 250 years is just as bright if not brighter than the last. So thank you, sir.
Thank you, Brooke. Thank you. And this money would not be possible without tariffs. The tariffs are taking in, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we're giving some up to the farmers because they were mistreated by other countries for, I don't know, maybe right reasons, maybe wrong reasons, they weren't—they were trying to show us something. And it's really worked out really well. But because of the tariffs, this is possible. The other thing I'd like to add before going to Scott, and I think it's very important: we're going to also give the tractor companies, John Deere and all of the companies that make the equipment, we're going to take off a lot of the environmental restrictions that they have on machinery. It's ridiculous. I know because I buy a lot of that machinery for different things. We have a lot of big clubs with, you know, hundreds, thousands of acres. And I buy a lot of stuff. And you buy it, it's got so much equipment on it for the environmental, it doesn't do anything except it makes the equipment much more expensive and much more complicated to work, and it's not as good as the old days. And we're going to take a lot of that nonsense off of the equipment, which is going to reduce—and we're going to do it, and we're going to say you're going to reduce the prices. We're not going to do it and then they're not going to reduce. They're going to have to reduce their prices because farming equipment has gotten too expensive. And a lot of the reason is because they put these environmental excesses on the equipment, which don't do a damn thing except make it complicated, make it impractical. And frankly, you really have to be, in many cases, you need about a 185 IQ to turn on a lawnmower now. So we're going to take that off, that crap off that they put on, Biden mostly. And we're going to take that off. So that's going to make a big—that'll bring down farm the equipment prices a lot. And we're going to do that immediately. You're going to work with Lee Zeldin, who's not here, he's done a fantastic job, and Lee is going to work that out. And that would be most of it. It's crazy, the machines—they're always under repair because they're so complicated that you can't fix them. The old days used to fix it yourself. Now you can't do that. Have to be a PhD from, let's say MIT, okay? So we're going to get that done. Scott, please go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you to the farmers to join us today. And I will tell all of you here that when either in person or when we are on a call with President Xi, the first thing the President asks him for is more soybean purchases. We—we don't talk about geopolitics, we don't talk about trade, it's about soybeans.
We don't even say hello, we immediately start. We start with the soybeans, please. Could you do a little—it's always 'could you do a little more?' So, and I think—I think President Xi has—has heard President Trump. This group represents an American way of life that has fed our nation and its spirit for hundreds of years. You are the caretakers of the most productive agricultural country on Earth. You drive hundreds of billions of dollars in exports, support millions of jobs, and keep America's economy running strong. And this administration is committed to keeping it that way. By putting farmers first, President Trump is ushering in a new Golden Age for agriculture. The President's $11 billion relief package for America's farmers comes at a critical time. These direct payments will give producers the breathing room they need to market this year's harvest and plan for next season. This serves as a liquidity bridge during a period of adjustment, supporting the strongest agriculture sector in the world. Add this to President's success in reigning in Biden-era inflation. Thanks to the administration's pro-growth policies, input costs like fuel and fertilizer are easing, and credit conditions are improving, interest rates are coming down, helping farmers prepare for the next harvest. President Trump scored a massive victory for America's farmers when he secured an arrangement with President Xi in Busan to reopen China's markets to US agricultural exports, especially soybeans, sorghum, and other commodities. Under this framework, China committed to purchase at least, at least 12 million metric tons of US soybeans this growing season, followed by a minimum of 25 million tons annually for the next three years. And it's not just China. At the President's direction, Treasury, USTR, and the Department of Commerce have secured supplemental purchases of US agricultural goods in major trade agreements across the world to open new markets to America's farmers. The one big beautiful bill also delivered transformative benefits for America's small farmers. It locked in full expensing for farm equipment and 100% expensing for farm structures built during the President's term. I believe Representative Scott and a group in the House that we were originally just going to do factories and they called us and said, 'You need to do farm structures too.' And the President said, 'We're all in.' And it extended and enhanced much-needed relief from the punishing death tax, giving family farms greater certainty as they plan for the next generation. Mr. President, thank you for putting America first by putting your farmers first through pro-growth, pro-farmer agenda. You're ushering in a new Golden Age of American agriculture, and Treasury is proud to help in this. [20:31] Thank you, Scott. You know what we'll do? We're going to go a little faster because the last meeting we had was three hours. We're the most transparent group. So if we can go faster, it'd be great. And then we'll take some questions from the fake news. Is that okay? All right. Kevin, go real fast, Kevin.
I can go really fast, sir. Sir, the farm economy, you always ask me to just get a few numbers to put it in perspective. And as I've looked through the incredible performance of these people that work so hard and are such important people for keeping communities alive, the thing that struck me the most, because you and I were here at the White House during COVID, is that during those terrible COVID times, farm production didn't go down. Like these farmers, they went to work every day and they produced so much. But then Joe Biden came in. So we had COVID, and farm production didn't go down. And then Joe Biden came in, and he really wrecked the farm economy. And so during Biden's term, 150,000 farms closed, sir. 150,000 farms closed after we went through COVID and we didn't have a problem. Now why did we do it? Why were we able to do that? I'm going fast. The first is that, do you know that expenses for farms fell 5% while we were here because of all the things that we did—expensing and everything else? But under Joe Biden, they went up 13% because of all the, you know, regulations, energy, everything else. But the thing that really jumped out at me the most is because you had high growth and low inflation, interest expense for the farm economy fell $120 million per year while you were there in the White House. But under Joe Biden, it increased by $8 billion per year. And so you wonder why it is that we need this $11 billion, maybe $12 billion, to build a bridge loan to America's farmers, it's because we know how to fix it, but there really was a hole that was dug in the previous administration. Thank you. Hope was faster than last time.
That was quick. That was good. I appreciate it. Senator, please.
Yes, sir. No, thank you so much. Thank you for convening us this great announcement and all your hard work for farmers. I think I was reading the clips, and I think yesterday you talked about, Mr. Secretary, about farmers needing certainty and which is so true. This bridge note is one of those things that provides certainty. Also, as I was reading that, thought to myself the one things that farmers can be certain of is the fact that you've got their back and you've proved that through the years in the last administration and now this. I was giving a presentation to the Senate a while back, and I was talking about us having the cheapest, safest food supply of any place in the world. It's not just about the farmers and rural America. And so Marco Rubio was sitting by me prior to coming over here and becoming the great Secretary of State. But he punched me and said, 'John, always remind them'—he was head of the, you know, Committee on Intelligence there—he punched me and said, 'Always remind them, food security is national security.' So this is important for so many different reasons. And again, I appreciate you for recognizing that, not only now but when you were campaigning in your first election, how you treated the farmers in that in your first administration and now, now stepping up. So we look forward to helping you if we need some additional help, look to Congress or wherever, we'll be there for you. So—
We're taking in so much money with the tariffs now that it's such a pleasure. Without it, you—we wouldn't be able to help you. We making our country, we're the richest country in the world now. And, you know, we have a big decision, hopefully we're going to get the right decision. Such a big thing in the Supreme Court right now. We have a lot of bad people opposed to us, people that hate our country. Other countries are involved. Some real sleazebags that I know, political sleazebags. And they're trying to take that away from us. And we have other methods, but they're not as powerful, they're not as quick. Some of the wars that I solved wouldn't have been solved using those methods. So it's a very important thing, the tariff, the decision of the Supreme Court's a very important thing. And Scott, we can do it other ways, but it's slow and it's cumbersome and it doesn't have the power, it doesn't have the national security power that what we have. So I hope we're going to be successful, that's all I can tell you. Austin, please. Thank you, John.
First of all, President, thank you for the selection of Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture. That was a big first step.
You want to keep her?
Absolutely. Can I butt in and second that? She's not only her but her staff does a tremendous job.
I agree. Remember eggs? Remember we came in and the people in the media were so nice. People in the media were three days into office, right? They're saying, 'Egg prices are up like 90%,' more than that. And I said, 'I just got here, I didn't know about it.' I just—anyway, she—she got those prices down to below what they were before. She's doing a great job. Now beef is starting to come down, and some other things are starting to come down. Again, we inherited these problems, but we're getting them down. Go ahead, please, Austin.
Fact-based decision maker. And the egg issue is where I learned about her. She said, 'We're not going to use a vaccine that doesn't work, we're going to develop a vaccine that does.' And that—that is 100% what it takes. And so we have to make decisions based on facts. And President Trump, the trade issues, I want to thank you for—for exposing what other countries were doing to us. I want to mention one specifically for the benefit of Kevin and Scott, I know they're—I hope they're paying attention to it, but this European Union Deforestation Regulation, where they are imposing on our landowners rules that were established for Brazil and now they're telling the American farmer what they can and can't do on their own land through this European Union Deforestation Regulation. I—
Now what is that? Tell—explain that.
They—they are telling the American farmer that if their timber is cut and they are going to use that land for pasture land or for production agriculture that they will not take the timber or the byproducts from the sale of that timber. And I have talked with James a little earlier about we need to make it clear to Europe, Mr. President, if you would.
If you could give me a two-paragraph statement on that, I will give that to them, and they will do what they have to do. We're always helping them, and they do this kind of stuff, and you know, they pass little regulations that are—that cost billions of dollars, it takes them two minutes to do it, they do it. Very tough, no good. You give me a couple of paragraphs, that's all. We don't have to do a lengthy study, and I'll get that changed fast, okay? Thank you very much, President. We love you. It's incredible. It's incredible. I mean, every day it's something else. A country that can't feed itself doesn't know what freedom is. And so thank you for making sure that our farmers have the tools that they need so that we as a country can feed ourselves. Well, just what you said to me about, you know, the European Union, in that case the European Union, right? We have to be able to act quickly with tariffs. We can't just, you know, go to a committee, go to a study that takes seven months and talk. We gotta be able to act quickly. So thank you very much. Thank you. John.
So, thanks. I think that's the message from farm country is thank you very much. You know, in the Working Family Tax Relief Act, or as my young staffers call it, OB3, there is a tremendous amount for farmers and ranchers. You mentioned the credit as far as estate tax, which is so important, you analyzed it just right. But also in there we enhanced ARC and PLC, which is a counter-cyclical safety net thanks to the strong leader—leadership of Senator Boozman and our colleagues in the House. We also included the FARM Act, which was my bill to make crop insurance more affordable. These tools will kick in next year, Mr. President, in a big, big way for our farmers. Big time. And people aren't even really looking at it yet, but it's going to be a very big deal. So today is all about bridging to get that. And I want to thank Secretary Bessent and Jameson Greer. They're tremendous in their—they're negotiating hard out there for farmers and ranchers, and I know it's because you're setting the tone. But this is that bridge. And so we need to come back to Secretary Rollins. Thank you. Your leadership on this was vital. And Mr. President, this—you're right, they love you in farm country out there. All you have to do is drive out and see the flags and—
And the signs all over the fields.
On the hay bales, right? It's a great honor. They're great people, the best people. This is really important. Real important for our farmers and ranchers. Thank you very much.
Well, you—you're doing a great job too, John. Thank you. And whatever we need, we get through the Senate, we get through the House, we'll get—we'll get it done. I think we'll start, maybe with Cort Holub, and you come from a place that I'm very happy with, Iowa.
I hail from the great state of Iowa. And you know, I'm surrounded here by some of the greatest farmers in the area and from across the country. Everything from rice farmers, we've got all sorts of cotton farmers, everything, everything is here represented so well. And first off, from me, I want to say thank you for this bridge payment. It—it—it's Christmas early for farmers. And just to kind of have an icebreaker here for the story. I've got a two-year-old little boy at home, two-year-old little boy and a four-month-old little girl. And the other day I was reading my little boy a story at night, putting him to bed, and he said, 'Daddy, I—I don't want Santa Claus to come to our house for Christmas, I want President Trump.' And I think, Mr. Trump, I think you brought, I think you brought Christmas to farmers with this bridge payment. We'll be able to farm another year, help us get by. It's such an honor to be here with you. I lost my grandfather and our hired hand in 2002 in a farming accident. And he instilled in me at an early age to love the land, to take pride in what we do.
Was it a machine accident?
It was a machine accident. And it gets in your blood to farm. It's in our blood. Despite what happened, I want my two-year-old to farm. I want my four-month-old daughter to have an opportunity. And what you're doing here in DC is working. You have a backbone to stand up to other countries for trade. You're getting things done, tax provisions. I'll be able to potentially pass on a farm to my children because of you. Ethanol, you're working for ethanol, trying to get E15 year-round. We're dealing with California, Prop 12. Let's continue to work on that. I think we can have a lot of domestic product used here in the country, and we can keep America first. And you're good at that, that is who you are. And if we keep that E15, you could have the biggest—
So E15 is a big deal?
E15's a great deal, year-round, okay? You could have the biggest stamp 'I did that,' 'Trump did that,' and we would thank you. Farmers would love you more than—more than anything if we could continue that. Um, continue to use domestic product, use the byproducts, and even be able to export to other countries. And so what you've done here in just having us here in the White House with you, sitting beside the Secretary and all these other great individuals here, what a true honor. And I'll take pride in this meeting, and I'll take this home for many generations to come, and because of what you're doing, hopefully them generations can stay on the Holub land farm.
Well, we're going to bring you into the Oval Office when we're finished, okay? The farmers. Nobody else, just the farmers. And we'll take some—we'll take some pictures. Our representatives also, okay? Have to let them because they're doing a great job, John and John and Austin, we appreciate it. You're doing a great job. Merrill, go ahead, please, tell us about rice.
Rice. Well, thank you first of all for inviting me here and my friend, the Secretary. You have an incredible lady right here, she really is. Um, along with being a mother of three and a wife, I run my family's agribusiness, Kennedy Rice Mill, in a little town called Mer Rouge, Louisiana, about 1,000 people in north—northern part of the state. Um, we employ around 150 people taking rice from the field to a finished product, supplying some of the largest food companies that many of you would know here domestically, but also—but also abroad. And my sisters and I, because there is four of us, right, I'm the youngest of four daughters, started our own rice brand a few years ago to just tell the story of American agriculture that hadn't really been told before. Um, but I wish I was here under better terms. I'll tell you I think the rice industry thanks you sincerely for what you have done for the California rice market and to Japan. Um, it has been monumental for our industry. But us in the south are really struggling. I mean, this is not just a crisis, I would say it's almost a—market dynamics that really are true—anti—an anti-competitive nature, right? So it follows what you—what you sent out this weekend. And we do believe that countries are dumping rice into this country today. We've never seen imports this great.
Which—which countries?
Um, India, Thailand, um, even China into Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico used to be one of the largest markets for US rice. We haven't shipped rice into Puerto Rico in years. Um, so this has been happening for years. It didn't start during your administration. Um, but unfortunately, we're seeing it in a much bigger way now. The tariffs are working. Um, but we need to double down because—
You want more? I mean, I understand.
Well, they're cheating, right? They're, you know, not—they're just subsidizing and then dumping.
India. Tell me about India. Why is India allowed to do that? They have to pay tariffs. Do they have an exemption on rice?
No, sir. We're still working on their trade deal, so—
Yeah, but they shouldn't be dumping. I mean, I heard that—I heard that from others. You can't do that. There's a WTO case against India right now. [35:52] Give me the—give me the countries, if you could. Go ahead.
So, India, mark it down. We're just going. Yes, sir. India, Thailand, um, China into Puerto Rico, not into the to, you know, continental US, but into Puerto Rico.
So Puerto Rico used to do a lot of business and now you—
100% Puerto Rico was US-based um, and now it's India.
So easy to settle. All right. But there's others, too, and I can get you a full list. [36:23] Give—get me a full list. Yeah. All right. Go ahead, please.
Um, so truly, this is a national security issue. I think you put it just perfectly. Um, and so I want for all of us in the room to know that rice is more than just a commodity, it's a currency in many of these countries.
And you love rice, right?
I love rice. Yes, I'm going to get you to love rice, too. You know, the next time you're not going to have a button for a Coke, you're going to have a button for a rice. Okay? In the Oval Office. Farmers love what they do. [36:53] Our—well, our farmers can feed this nation and many nations abroad, but we need fair trade, not free trade. And so we appreciate what you've done today. We appreciate what you did in the big beautiful bill. I mean, my word, you—you really changed reference prices, um, and you know, we're hopeful that we can even move that further. I know that rice prices right now are the lowest they've been in over 40 years. So we're going to struggle, we're going to max out on our payments probably. Um, so that's something that I know those in Congress can potentially help us with to change. But again, we appreciate everything you're doing.
That's solved so quickly with tariffs to these countries that are illegally shipping. It's solved—your problem is solved in one day. That's why we have to win the Supreme Court case. In one day that problem's solved. It's so unfair. They go out of business, they put everyone out of business. That's what they did to our car indus—we lost more than 50% of our car industry because of that. We lost our chip industry went to Taiwan because of that. If you had a president that said, 'No, you can't do that. It's 100% or 200% tariff on chips if you make them outside of the United States,' we would—we would have never lost our chip industry. But we're going to have 40 or 50% of it back very shortly because they're all coming in now from Taiwan, they're building chip companies. But it's the same thing with rice. Thank you, darling, very much. Yes. Oh, thank you. You—it'll be good. We'll get it solved very quickly. We just need the countries. We just—just give us the names of the countries. Tariffs again, it's—it's—solves the problem in two minutes.
Yeah. They've bought the largest brands at retail, too, right? So they have an incentive to subsidize their products so that they can keep it on the shelf.
Yeah, who did that?
Um, the Indians own the two largest brands.