Senator Baldwin Demands Answers from Trump About $62 Million Going to Brazilian Crooks Instead of American Farmers

Wisconsin Has Lost 1,480 Dairy Farms Since Trump Took Office

As American Farmers Pay the Price for Trade Wars, Trump Provides Taxpayer-Funded Aid to Brazilian Company 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today demanded answers from President Trump after media reports revealed that more than $62 million in U.S. taxpayer funded aid meant for American farmers was given to a meatpacking company owned by two Brazilian billionaires currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wisconsin has lost 1,480 dairy farms since President Trump took office. In April alone, Wisconsin lost 90 dairy farms.

“Allowing taxpayer funds to support foreign agricultural companies, particularly corrupt foreign companies, at a time when farmers in Wisconsin and across the country are suffering from pain caused by your trade wars is outrageous and I’m calling on you to explain how you allowed this to happen,” wrote Senator Baldwin in her letter.

“Farmers in Wisconsin, the Midwest, and across the country have faced enormous challenges because of the impacts of the trade wars and the resulting retaliatory tariffs that have targeted agriculture products. Dairy farmers have been hit particularly hard by retaliatory tariffs and in Wisconsin, we’ve lost nearly 1,500 dairy farms since you took office. Farmers need better trade deals, not trade wars. 

“American farmers have faced a storm of severe challenges over the past few years, all while the trade wars that they did not ask for—and may not even benefit from—are swirling around them. At the very least, we ought to respect their hard work and contributions to the economy by directing aid in a way that most benefits American farmers and family businesses, not billionaires from other countries.”

News reports recently revealed that more than $62 million of U.S. trade war aid that was intended to support American farmers, has been awarded to JBS, a Brazilian multinational meatpacking company owned by two brothers who have admitted to bribing officials in Brazil, are under investigation by the United States Department of Justice and were previously fined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The full letter to President Trump is available here.