The Trump administration has been bad for American farmers. In 2018 farm incomes declined $9.1 billion and total farm debt rose to $410 billion, the highest in nearly 40 years. Bankruptcies are more frequent than during the Great Recession, and they are up 59% in the region that includes my home state of Colorado, compared with 2008. Low commodity prices, persistent drought and labor shortages have pushed many farmers to the edge.

Farmers have responded to these challenges with typical ingenuity—diversifying crops, introducing new technologies, and generating income from their land through conservation and recreation. But the administration’s reckless trade and immigration agenda has made matters worse.

It didn’t have to be this way. Although I disagree with President Trump on many things, I agree we need a tougher approach to end China’s unfair trade practices. He could have pursued that goal in concert with America’s allies to maximize pressure. Instead, he slapped Canada, Mexico and countries in the European Union with tariffs, leaving the U.S. isolated.

The predictable retaliation against tariffs by China and many U.S. allies left American farmers to bear the brunt of a sprawling trade war. As a consequence of the President’s policies, farmers saw crop prices drop even further and the expenses like fertilizer and equipment spike. Corn and wheat prices have declined 15% since May 2018 in Colorado, in line with national trends.

The longer the president’s slapdash trade policy persists, the more opportunities American farmers will lose to their competitors. China, the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, has reduced American soybean imports by 90%. Brazil is rushing to fill the void. Wheat growers stand to lose precious Japanese market share to Australia and the European Union. The administration recently tried to distract from the damage by touting a tentative agreement with China to purchase 10 million tons of American soybeans—less than half of the 27 million tons they bought last year.