President Donald Trump on Monday said that his trade policies will ultimately benefit American farmers, even though tariffs announced by China in response to new tariffs to be imposed by the United States would hurt American soybean farmers.

Trump said at a cabinet meeting that he hopes to work out a trade deal with China and that if Chinese leaders push for policies that hurt American farmers, he will “make it up to” the farmers.

“In the end, they’re going to be much stronger than they are right now. Don’t forget, farmers have been trending downward over an eight-year period. Their numbers have trended downward, in some cases, significantly,” Trump said. “But the farmers will be better off than they ever were. It will take a little while to get there, but it could be very quick actually.”

“We’re doing very well on trade and trade deals. I think deals will be made. I think we’re going to make deals with a lot of countries that have taken advantage of us,” the President added.