Trump tariffs could fund bailout for US farmers, agriculture secretary tells FT

The Trump administration is drawing up plans to use tariff revenue to fund a program to support U.S. farmers, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins.

"There may be circumstances under which we will be very seriously looking to and announcing a package soon," Rollins told the newspaper in an interview on Wednesday.

Rollins said financing the bailout with “tariff income that is now coming into America” was “absolutely a potential.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The report follows pressure from farm groups after China stopped purchases of soybeans from the U.S. in their tit-for-tat trade dispute, and as tariffs have pushed up costs for fertiliser, machinery and other imported inputs.

Agriculture has emerged as a major point of contention between China and the U.S. as the superpowers are locked in a tariff war launched by President Donald Trump.