President Trump on Friday reiterated his push to extend $15 billion in assistance to farmers caught in the crosshairs of his escalating trade war with China.

Mr. Trump is counting on farmers to retain their support for him as he tries to work out a deal, even though tit-for-tat tariffs are making it hard for them to sell their soybeans, swine parts and other products.

“These are great patriots. These are people who don’t want anything, they just want a fair playing surface,” Mr. Trump said at a gathering of the National Association of Realtors in D.C.

Mr. Trump said farmers, who received a $12 billion bailout last year, have told him they don’t want handouts, even as he pursues the subsidies as a way to mollify key supporters in red states.

“You’re the only group that’s ever said that to me,” Mr. Trump recounted telling the farmers. “I said, ‘Man, is that nice.’”

“Farmers are incredible,” he said. “I dunno, they might even be better than the realtors.”

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