Higher Prices For Iowans and Higher Costs for Iowa Farmers and Businesses: Brought to You By Miller-Meeks, Hinson, and Nunn-Backed Tariffs

New reporting is highlighting how the reckless, cost-raising tariffs enthusiastically supported by Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and Zach Nunn are set to cost Iowa farmers and businesses millions.

Tariffs cost Iowa farmers and businesses $90 million just this April, a 304% increase from the year prior – whether it’s “increased costs to import necessary machinery or threats to export opportunities.” Iowa’s soybean and pork producers are among the “hardest hit” by these tariffs, which “risk kicking Iowa producers out of the web of international trade, or out of business altogether.”

And that’s all as tariffs are set to raise Iowa families’ costs by thousands per year.

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Iowans have Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and Zach Nunn to thank for higher prices. They’ve enthusiastically backed the tariffs that are raising costs and threatening Iowa’s economy, and Iowans will fire them for it next November.”

Des Moines Register: Tariffs cost Iowa businesses $90M in April, new report says, a 304% hike from 2024

• Tariffs are having a sweeping impact on Iowa’s economy, costing importers $90 million in April, a 304% increase from the year prior, according to new research.
• Iowa has the 11th highest change in the amount of tariffs paid between April 2024 and 2025.
• The report attributed the increase to President Donald Trump’s ever-evolving tariff policies, with approximately $80 million from “executive actions.”
• The new data may not even capture the full impact on Iowa’s economy since the Trump administration has paused the worldwide “reciprocal tariffs” through mid-July. If those tariffs take effect, the report said, there could be “major consequences for Iowa businesses with extensive trade relationships around the world.”
• Iowa farmer and state Soybean Association District Director Matthew Willimack said farmers like him who rely on soybeans “get it on both sides of the sword” because they import fertilizers and other chemicals to help their beans grow and export the soybeans, largely to China.
• Hart said soybeans and pork have been among the hardest hit industries because they rely heavily on purchases from China. He said about 20% of the total soybeans produced in the U.S. are exported to China.
• Like in 2018, fighting between the U.S. and China has led to shrinking imports for the Asian nation and sparked fears of a protracted trade war. The tariffs peaked at 145% in the spring before the U.S. announced in May that they would pause the high-level tariffs through mid-July to discuss a deal.
• Willimack said the tariffs have also opened the door for U.S. competitors like Brazil to expand their soybean production and create a “friendlier” market for Brazil.
• “All we’re doing is taking away our largest customer and handing it over to somebody else,” Willimack said. “It creates a difficult opportunity for agriculture in Iowa.”
• Cedar Ridge Distillery CEO Jeff Quint said the European Union once looked like a promising market for his bourbon business, but the company no longer has a desire to try to expand its market because it must balance economic “uncertainty that is affecting everyone.”
• Willimack said the tariffs have forced him to be, at times, “more harsh” than he would want to be to his customers and required him to abandon his principle that his customers are always right.
• Hart said the tariffs have a two-fold impact on the state economy by creating uncertainty for consumers and businesses and by “exacerbat(ing)” an already “troubling” economic forecast in agriculture.
• “We are very sensitive to these tariffs,” Hart said. “Both coming and going, and we’re seeing issues come up in a lot of different industries, for a lot of different businesses. And the longer the uncertainty goes on, the harder it is for businesses to make those decisions (and) for consumers to feel confident putting their dollars forward to buy that equipment.”

The Gazette: Iowa manufacturers and producers gather to share stories of ongoing economic turmoil amid tariff uncertainty

• Iowa manufacturers’ and farmers’ balance sheets have been impacted by heightened import costs and uncertain foreign export relations, and bottlenecks at various points in their production processes — whether they are increased costs to import necessary machinery or threats to export opportunities — are weighing heavy on them.
• Prominent voices in the Iowa business and agriculture economics sectors gathered Tuesday in Swisher for a town hall hosted by Farmers for Free Trade, a national nonprofit free trade advocacy group.
• Iowa’s agriculture industry is the foremost producer of corn and soybeans in the nation, and farmers rely on both importing top-dollar production equipment as well as exporting commodities outside the U.S.
• According to a report by FFT, the impact of souring international trade relations is drastically impacting farmers’ commodity exports, and tariffs on key import products like unwrought aluminum, machinery parts, and insecticides risk kicking Iowa producers out of the web of international trade, or out of business altogether.
• The U.S. trade war with China reached its height in mid-April, when the Trump administration announced it would impose a 145 percent tariff on all goods coming from China, and China retaliated with a 125 percent tariff on U.S. goods.
• Quint, of Cedar Ridge, said tariffs and developing international trade issues pose a unique problem for his business as a producer of spirits such as bourbon. Due to international trade treaties, bourbon cannot be made in countries other than the U.S. It’s similar to restrictions that require cognac to be made in France and scotch to be produced in Scotland, Quint said.
• Due to the nature of his industry and his reliance on exporting his products, Quint said Cedar Ridge is among the first to experience the effects of hampered trade relations.
• Dix said farm equipment manufacturers and retailers like Kinze Manufacturing are suffering from both imports and exports because of the import taxes paid on steel and the export taxes paid on finished equipment.
• “This puts a strain on our customer base as well,” he said. “So not just who we’re buying from, but who we’re selling to.”
• Dix said he’s seen the trade war push more strained business negotiations with farmers in Iowa.
• Hart said the two largest agricultural exports impacted by dampened trade relations are pork and soybean products. That’s because China is a large share of the market for soybean and pork exports from the U.S., and Chinese duties on U.S. goods remain above 30 percent.
• These statistics are developing in real time, drawing tens of millions out of Iowa companies’ pockets daily, the report states. Overall, FFT reports Iowa saw a 304 percent increase in tariffs between April 2024 and 2025, resulting in a total $90 million of tariffs paid by importers in April, an increase from the $22 million paid a year prior.
• The 304 percent increase comes even as overall import value in Iowa has decreased by 10 percent, according to the report.

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