Mayor Pete Buttigieg slammed President Donald Trump's administration Wednesday night for perpetuating a trade war with China that has disproportionately weighed on American agricultural exporters.

"We shouldn't have to pay farmers to take the edge off of a trade war that shouldn't have been started in the first place," he said Wednesday.

Several candidates throughout the Democratic primaries have touched on the ongoing trade dispute with China and its impact on farm exports. China is among a handful of international trade partners to threaten or directly cut off U.S. agriculture exports as the Trump administration has shaken up pre-existing trade relationships.

Chief among American crops impacted by the trade war with China have been soybeans, as Chinese retaliation against U.S. tariffs has decimated market access for American exporters.

Trump has sought to alleviate the pain felt by American farmers – which has also been exacerbated this year by heavy rains in the Midwest and extreme weather patterns – by strengthening federal farm subsidies. Trump has promised to funnel $16 billion in federal aid to U.S. farmers to help cover their losses. However, a report published this month by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., accuses the Trump administration of making "skewed payments" that "choose winners and losers" by favoring Southern farmers and larger, higher-grossing operations.

Buttigieg pledged on Wednesday night to continue making payments to U.S. farmers, though he stressed that "we won't need them" should he claim the White House, suggesting he'd end the trade war and restore their access to international markets.

"I don't think this president cares one bit about farmers. He keeps asking them to take one for the team," Buttigieg said.

Farmers' reliance on the federal government has grown in recent decades. According to an analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture data by USAFacts , government payments accounted for just 1.4% of total net farm income in 1949. But in 2017, 15.3% of total net farm income came from government subsidies.



See the full graphic at USAFacts.org Courtesy of USAFacts

See the full graphic at USAFacts.org Courtesy of USAFacts

Still, 2019 isn't the first year in which the federal government ramped up subsidies to guide farmers out of a rough patch. In 2000, government payments spiked as farm income dropped, so nearly 46% of farm income that year came from federal subsidies.

But this year will likely be remembered as a rough one for farming. And although Trump has increased federal subsidies, Democratic candidates have been quick to remind potential voters that the administration's trade actions share much of the blame for why farmers are in such dire straits. Presidential hopefuls have hammered the Trump administration for supporting policies that have weighed on the livelihoods of an agricultural base that overwhelmingly supported the Trump campaign in 2016.

But analysts are still skeptical that Trump has seen meaningful erosion in support from farmers and the working class .

