president Trump's trade wars affecting
America's ports Container shipment
bookings are down nearly 50% from a year
ago The executive director at the Port
of Los Angeles has warned that shipping
volume from China will plummet this week
He joins me now to discuss In just one
year US sororghum exports to China have
collapsed by more than 94% plunging from
1.44 million metric tonses to a mere
78,000 This isn't a seasonal dip It's
not a supply chain hiccup It's a
catastrophic collapse in one of the most
critical agricultural trade flows
between the United States and its
largest former buyer And while it may
sound like an issue for farmers or
freight companies the impact goes far
deeper touching everything from rural
livelihoods to the stability of global
markets The scene opens on rows of
rusting shipping containers sitting
motionless at the Port of Oakland
They're filled not with goods in transit
but with perishable crops Sorghum hay
almonds abandoned by canceled contracts
and prohibitively high retaliatory
tariffs In the distance the machinery
meant to drive agricultural output sits
idle collecting dust The camera cuts to
a field in the Midwest A single farmer
stands motionless beside a harvester
that hasn't moved in days The land is
ready The crop mature but there's
nowhere for it to go No market no buyer
no price that justifies harvesting This
isn't just the result of a volatile
market This is what it looks like when
policy decisions made in Washington
dismantle the foundations of American
agriculture When global trust is eroded
and long-standing trade relationships
unravel overnight the damage doesn't
begin in the field But it ends there
with silence stillness and losses that
no subsidy can fully cover At the Port
of Oakland one of the West Coast's
busiest agricultural gateways activity
has slowed to a crawl Shipments of
American grown almonds dairy products
hay and eggs once exported in massive
volumes to Asia and beyond have dropped
dramatically The cause isn't drought or
labor strikes but a breakdown in global
trade relationships and a surge in
retaliatory tariffs Where there were
once steady flows of outbound containers
there are now idle cranes and unopened
gates Export contracts are being
cancelled at the last minute especially
by buyers in China and Southeast Asia
who site prohibitively high costs after
the imposition of tariffs exceeding 125%
on certain US agricultural goods The
increased trade friction has made
American products uncompetitive not
because of quality or demand but because
foreign buyers are now penalized simply
for choosing US suppliers As a result
the port is struggling with a backlog of
stranded goods Storage and warehousing
fees are piling up driving costs even
higher for exporters Some shipments
especially perishable ones are simply
abandoned Producers and freight
companies facing untenable losses are
walking away from contracts rather than
absorbing the cost of tariff storage and
failed logistics These aren't just
delays they're symptoms of a system
grinding to a halt For farmers and
exporters this breakdown in trade
infrastructure is devastating Crops are
ready Products are packaged But the
outbound lanes are closing What was once
a reliable economic engine the flow of
US agriculture to global markets is now
frozen by policydriven paralysis And for
every day those ports remain
underutilized The pressure builds on
storage
systems on pricing and on the people who
once depended on these shipments to make
their living At the center of the
unfolding agricultural collapse is a
trade strategy built on confrontation
and one that has dramatically backfired
In 2024 the US administration under
Donald Trump reinstated and escalated a
wide range of tariffs including imposing
up to 145% duties on key agricultural
imports and exports These aggressive
measures were aimed largely at major
trading partners like China with the
goal of forcing renegotiation and
bringing supply chains back to the US
But the outcome has been far from that
Instead of folding under pressure China
responded by cutting back dramatically
on American imports particularly in
agriculture where it has now
restructured its grain and feed sourcing
toward Brazil and Argentina These
countries have not only filled the gap
left by the US but have expanded their
market share sometimes permanently as
they offer reliable exports without the
threat of political volatility or
economic retaliation Meanwhile the World
Trade Organization WTO long a neutral
platform for resolving trade disputes
has been rendered ineffective The US has
blocked the appointment of appellet
judges effectively paralyzing the
organization's ability to rule on tariff
violations Mars or enforce agreements
With no trusted mechanism for
arbitration nations have turned inward
or sought bilateral trade deals that
bypass both the WTO and the US The
European Union facing its own tariffs
from the US on steel agriculture and
manufactured goods has increasingly
looked elsewhere signing trade
agreements with countries like Canada
South Korea and Japan to diversify its
supply chains This has eroded US access
to global markets even further as
long-standing trade partners begin to
see American policy as unpredictable and
high- risk In attempting to weaponize
trade policy the US has undermined its
own export base pushed away reliable
partners and lost ground in key global
markets This wasn't just a tactical
misstep It was a strategic error that
reshaped the global agricultural map
leaving US farmers excluded from the
very markets they once dominated As
tariffs disrupted international trade
flows the secondary effects rippled
through the logistical backbone of
American agriculture From ocean freight
to insurance to container handling every
layer of the supply chain has absorbed
shock and passed it along in the form of
higher costs and longer delays Shipping
fees have surged as vessels from major
exporting countries especially China are
subject to massive port charges Under
new federal provisions Chinese cargo
ships face port access fees of up to $
1.5 million per vessel creating a
chilling effect on import export volume
and making routine trade routes
prohibitively expensive These measures
aimed at asserting control over
strategic shipping lanes have instead
strangled commercial traffic and raised
costs for American exporters who depend
on inbound materials and outbound access
Insurance premiums have followed suit
with trade underwriters recalibrating
risk models to account for rising tar
tariff uncertainty and geopolitical
exposure Added layers of inspection
customs paperwork and certification
delays have further slowed the movement
of goods especially for perishable or
temperature sensitive exports like dairy
meat and fresh produce Perhaps most
critically the containerization model
which revolutionized global trade in the
last century is now a major
vulnerability An estimated 55% of the
value of US agricultural exports depends
on container shipping When those
containers are stuck rerouted or priced
out of competitiveness the entire supply
system backs up Farmers and exporters
are left holding goods that cannot move
while buyers abroad turn to more stable
sources The combined effect is a
logistical chokeold American producers
are caught between rising production
costs at home and a shrinking ability to
reach buyers abroad What once was an
efficient globalized trade
infrastructure has become a liability
slowed by policy stranded by tariffs and
cracked under the pressure of economic
nationalism As America's agricultural
export system fractures the pain is not
shared equally on the ground Family
farmers and small producers are
absorbing the full impact While large
aggra businesses many with lobbying
power diversified portfolios and global
subsidiaries continue to post profits
Companies like Kalin Foods with the
infrastructure to pivot between markets
and hedge against supply shocks remain
profitable even as thousands of farms
face insolveny At the farm level the
situation is grim Input costs for seeds
fertilizer fuel and feed have surged
while selling prices for key crops have
fallen due to over supply and
evaporating foreign demand The math no
longer works Many farmers now face the
bleak decision to leave crops in the
ground as harvesting storing or
transporting them would only deepen
their losses Fields are left untouched
not due to weather or labor shortages
but because the market has stopped
making sense The broader consequence is
a sharp decline in overall farm income
even as consumer food prices rise nearly
18% year-over-year This contradiction
falling revenue for producers alongside
rising costs for consumers reveals a
system out of balance Middlemen and
logistics firms may buffer or pass along
costs but the ends of the supply chain
are suffering The ones who grow the food
and the ones who buy it Behind every
foreclosure notice behind every unh
harvested acre is a breakdown not just
of economic efficiency but of trust in
markets in institutions and in the idea
that hard work and production are still
rewarded The trade war's domestic legacy
isn't just disruption It's
disillusionment And for many farmers
that's a loss far deeper than any tariff
can measure Beyond the financial strain
and broken markets a deeper crisis is
taking hold in America's farm belt The
collapse of trust Farmers across the
country are no longer just frustrated
They feel abandoned Trust in the White
House the US Department of Agriculture
and long-standing trade agreements has
eroded What was once a bipartisan belief
that agriculture is the backbone of
American prosperity has been replaced
with skepticism and silence The policy
promises made to rural America that
tariffs would lead to fairer markets
that disruption was a necessary
short-term sacrifice have not been
fulfilled Instead farm income has
dropped markets have been lost and new
deals have yet to materialize As this
reality sinks in lawmakers on both sides
of the aisle are beginning to push back
calling for legislation that would limit
presidential authority over unilateral
tariff decisions an extraordinary
response to what many now see as an
overreach that ignored expert warnings
and farmer input alike Meanwhile
economists and policy analysts argue
that a New Deal style intervention
investing in rural infrastructure
stabilizing prices and expanding
domestic processing could have preserved
the agricultural economy at a far lower
cost than the damage now unfolding They
point out that billions have already
been spent on emergency subsidies and
bailout programs which have failed to
provide long-term stability or restore
lost market confidence What's left is a
sector a drift uncertain of its place in
the global economy and unsure whether
its government is still a reliable
partner Farmers are not just looking for
relief They're looking for clarity
direction and policy rooted in strategy
rather than symbolism Until that changes
the American agricultural crisis will
continue not just as an economic failure
but as a crisis of credibility What's
unfolding across America's farmland
isn't just a trade dispute It's a slow
unraveling of an entire system When
farmers lose markets when ports go
silent when trust and leadership
collapses the damage isn't temporary
It's generational The policies that
caused this were not inevitable And the
path forward doesn't have to be passive
Now is the time to demand smarter trade
strategies real investment in rural
resilience and policies that put people
not politics at the center of our food
system Because if we don't act we're not
just losing crops or contracts We're
losing the foundation of who feeds us
and the future that depends on
