American farmers, businesses launch campaign to show how tariffs harm the heartland

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is about to get an earful from Americans hurt by tariffs.

More than 80 trade associations representing thousands of businesses and workers announced Wednesday they are forming a coalition called Americans for Free Trade and joining with agriculture groups to launch a multimillion-dollar campaign against tariffs.

Called Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, the campaign will highlight the negative impact of tariffs on businesses and the benefits of international trade to the U.S. economy.

“Every sector of the U.S. economy stands to lose in a trade war,” said Matthew Shay, president and chief executive officer of the National Retail Federation. “The stakes couldn’t be higher for American families, businesses, farmers and workers threatened by job losses and higher prices as a result of tit-for-tat tariffs.”

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The anti-tariff campaign comes as the Trump administration is preparing to impose new duties any day now on another $200 billion in imports from China as part of a broader tug of war between Washington and Beijing.

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The administration already has levied tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods amid complaints that China engages in unfair trade practices, including the theft of U.S. technology and intellectual property. China has retaliated with tariffs on an equal amount of U.S. products.

The trade associations launching the anti-tariff campaign represent thousands of American workers potentially impacted by the trade war, including toy makers, fashion designers, grocers, whiskey distillers, the petroleum industry and others.

The campaign will include events in congressional districts across the country featuring farmers, business owners and factory workers to discuss how the tariffs are directly hurting them. Events are planned next week in Chicago, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee.

In addition, the groups will buy ads on TV, radio and online, set up a rapid-response “war room” to fact-check and respond to tariff announcements, launch a digital media campaign explaining the economic harm of tariffs and write op-eds and blog posts from Americans bearing the brunt of tariffs.

The campaign includes a geographically searchable map that allows users to find stories of job losses, deferred investments, higher prices and other negative consequences for farmers and businesses in communities across the country impacted by tariffs.

The business groups also are reaching out to key members of Congress.

“While we agree that there are issues that need to be addressed with key trading partners, tariffs are the wrong approach to bring about meaningful change,” the groups wrote in a letter Wednesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.