LANSING — Michigan farm exports are continuing to “collapse” in the fallout from the reckless tariffs supported by failed GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers. According to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, “Michigan wheat shipments plummeted 89% in the first half of 2025” and “soybean meal exports also dropped 46%,” which state officials “blame squarely on Trump administration tariffs and the resulting trade war.”
Rogers has been a rubber-stamp for Trump’s chaotic tariffs, calling them an “absolute win” and “masterful“—even as they spike costs on nearly everything Michiganders buy and devastate Michigan farmers. When confronted with these real-world consequences, Rogers was caught at a campaign event “making fun of those who worry about higher prices,” arguing the economic pain is “worth the financial strife being put on the American people.” He even falsely claimed that there is no inflation and that “working families [are] not paying more.”
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Crain’s Grand Rapids Business: Michigan farm exports collapse in fallout from Trump tariffs
- Michigan wheat shipments plummeted 89% in the first half of 2025, part of a stunning collapse in agricultural exports that state officials blame squarely on Trump administration tariffs and the resulting trade war.
- Soybean meal exports also dropped 46%, according to data from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
- State ag leaders point to trade policies enacted this year by the Trump administration and retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries as being directly responsible for the declines.
- “More and more foreign purchasers are just viewing the United States and Michigan products with a lot of uncertainty,” said Timothy Boring, executive director of MDARD. “They’re increasingly, it seems, making decisions to source from other countries that do offer that greater predictability and stability in those export markets.”
- […] “Michigan agriculture and various commodity groups have spent generations now building these international markets around the globe and so much of those trading partnerships rely upon the trust in those personal connections,” Boring said. “If the trust isn’t there, if the predictability and the stability of those relationships isn’t going to be there, those importers are going to look to procure products somewhere else where there’s greater stability and more certainty.”
- […] “The U.S. has a reputation of being a consistent supplier of high-quality beans and grains with efficient logistics. However, tariffs make us uncompetitive in many markets,” Fahrner said.
- […] Fahrner noted that getting importers to change their sourcing can be a difficult proposition. “Once buyers switch to suppliers in other countries, it is very hard to get that business back, thus decreasing available markets for U.S. exports,” Fahrner said.
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