INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun continues to dismiss the alarm bells raised by Hoosier farmers who are worried that the recent tariffs may even cost them their farms, and has yet to indicate if he agrees with the leader of his party, who insisted that those farmers “would have lost [their farms] anyway” with or without the tariffs.

Asked last week if he had any comforting words for farmers worried about losing their farms due to the imposition of crippling tariffs on corn and soybeans, President Trump said over the weekend he thinks those farmers “would have lost them anyway.” Hoosier farmers alarmed by the President’s words won’t find encouragement from Rep. Braun, who has made similar statements. Rep. Braun has previously called on Hoosier farmers to “take a leap of faith” and called the tariffs’ impact “overdramatized,” even as soybean prices fall below the cost of production with harvests looming.

Now, as President Trump makes clear he believes that he understands farmers’ issues better than the farmers themselves, and that losses would more likely be due to their own management than the tariffs, Rep. Braun has yet to say whether he shares that sentiment. Alternatively, he may be ready to grapple with the true cost of the tariffs on our farmers.

“Hoosier farmers don’t want a copy machine like Rep. Braun who refuses to defend them when they are threatened by crippling tariffs just because the President tells them they’re wrong,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “Hoosier farmers are afraid they’ll lose their family farms due to the tariffs, but Rep. Braun is telling them to take a leap of faith. If they do lose their farms, will Rep. Braun also say it wasn’t the tariffs’ fault, but their own?”

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