President Donald Trump praised farmers on Wednesday for their patience in the ongoing trade fight with China.

“They’re warriors. They also know we have to do this on China, we can’t take this on,” Trump said. “Our farmers will be helped.”

The president commented on his plans to help farmers suffering economically from trade tariffs during a briefing on Hurricane Dorian.

Since Trump enacted tariffs on China, the country has sharply curbed imports of agricultural products, including their purchases of large quantities of soybeans.

“They understand that you have to win the war, this is a trade war, trade battle, you can call it anything you want but this should have been done by previous presidents before me,” Trump said.

Trump reassured farmers that the federal government would reimburse their financial losses with China, noting the billions of dollars of tariff funds coming into the Treasury.

He appeared optimistic that China would come to the table for negotiations, despite ongoing trade disputes. He noted that China was experiencing its worst economy in 57 years as a result of the fight.

”They want to make a deal,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”