America’s Growing Food Trade Deficit Threatens Family Farms

President Trump has pledged to impose broad new tariffs as part of his “America First” agenda. However, some Republicans are voicing opposition; they believe tariffs will lead to retaliation against America’s farmers. According to federal data, these critics ignore an uncomfortable truth: The United States is already running a historic agricultural trade deficit. It’s the result of long-standing “free trade” policies that have harmed America’s farmers far more than tariffs could.

Republicans opposed to Trump’s tariffs want the American public to believe they’re fighting for small family farms. However, the trade policies they champion support only a handful of large multinational giants, which has led directly to the nation’s current massive agricultural trade deficit.

A new study by the Coalition for a Prosperous America finds that America’s agricultural trade deficit is on pace to hit a staggering $39 billion in fiscal year 2024, the largest in U.S. history. America was once the world’s breadbasket but is increasingly dependent on foreign food imports. In 2024, the U.S. racked up staggering deficits in fruits ($12 billion), meat and seafood ($11 billion) and vegetables ($4.8 billion). That should alarm policymakers on both sides of the aisle.

As the debate continues about the Trump administration’s trade policy, some in the Republican Party argue that China and other nations will respond to tariffs by halting purchases of U.S. farm exports. However, the very trade policies they’ve long supported have led to a stunning decline in America’s food production.

Over the past 25 years, free trade policies championed by many Republican lawmakers have allowed heavily subsidized imports to flood the U.S. market, devastating family farms. These policies, often championed by multinational agricultural giants, follow the same “trade liberalization” that has gutted domestic manufacturing in auto parts, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

Family farms have been hit hardest. These small producers rarely export their goods; instead, they sell locally to farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants. But they’ve been squeezed out of the market by record imports. From 1987 to 2012, the share of small farms in the U.S. agricultural market dropped from 37.2% to just 14.5%. Over the same period, multinational agribusinesses saw their market share jump from 38.3% to 66.4%.

Despite becoming a massive net food importer, the United States still maintains an agricultural trade surplus in one sector: exports of soybeans, corn and wheat. That particular slice of U.S. farm exports now generates 95% of the nation’s agricultural trade surplus.

Despite decades of free trade agreements signed by Washington, U.S. export volumes of many grain products, including corn and wheat, have remained stagnant for 20 years. Wheat export volumes are lower than in 2000; “free trade” has provided only limited benefits for these substantial crops.

The politicians are warning about tariff retaliation and are not defending family farms. Instead, they’re following the interests of agricultural conglomerates. For decades, they’ve supported policies that hollowed out America’s food production and turned the nation into a net food importer. They’ve pushed for trade policies benefiting a handful of large multinational giants that export corn, soybeans and wheat.

What’s really at stake is the independence and resilience of America’s overall agricultural sector, and becoming a net agricultural importer marks a pivotal moment in U.S. history. 

It’s time for U.S. trade policy to prioritize the importance of locally grown food as many other countries do. Americans should be able to buy domestically produced food and support family farms. That means Congress must prioritize the prosperity of all agricultural producers, not cater to the special interests of a few large multinationals. It’s past time for Washington to implement a trade policy that rebuilds independence and prosperity for America’s domestic farmers and manufacturers.