Central Valley farmers bracing for impact of tariffs

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Tonight, Central Valley farmers are bracing for the uncertainty of President Trump's tariffs.

"We just don't know what's going to go on, and, of course, we're talking outbound, inbound. There's just a lot of moving parts to this," says Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.

The president, imposing a 10 percent tariff on all countries beginning Saturday and on Wednesday, roughly 60 countries will be hit again as higher reciprocal tariffs set in.

"The president, rightly, has concluded that the current status of global trade is bad for America and good for a bunch of other people, and he's going to reset it," says Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

But Democratic Congressman Jim Costa says it's counterintuitive,

"This doesn't do any of that, this increases the cost of business, increases the cost of automobiles and housing, and the potential risk of adding to inflation."

Prices at the grocery store are expected to soar for consumers.

And Valley farmers will likely face higher costs -

Impacting fertilizers, pesticides, and foreign-made specialty equipment...

"You're looking at a very struggling economy right now (and) that potentially has big effects on the bottom lines of farmers and ranchers," says Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.

Jacobsen is now left to be hopeful the government will provide relief.

"The administration has been very proactive in talking about if American agriculture is significantly affected, they're going to, hopefully, make it up through some programs. We don't know what that's going to look like right now," says Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.

Jacobsen says the silver lining is that much of this uncertainty is happening before the Valley's major crop seasons begin in July. He hopes that some of the trade disputes will be resolved by then.

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