Van Orden Backs GOP Tariffs, Ignoring Wisconsin Farmers Struggles

MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday, in an interview, WI-03 Congressman Derrick Van Orden once again refused to stand up to Trump or fight for Wisconsin farmers, instead endorsing the GOP tariff taxes that are crushing them. In recent months, multiple Wisconsin farmers have shared firsthand how these tariffs are harming trade relationships and slashing their revenue.

“D.C. Derrick is completely out of touch with Wisconsin farmers,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Philip Shulman. “He doesn’t seem to understand how one of the most pressing issues facing our farmers is hurting them. Instead, he’s more focused on flattering Trump than actually standing up for the hardworking people who are the backbone of our state.”

See below for what Wisconsin farmers have said on the impacts of tariffs:

“Even though the consumer price has been really high here over the last year, when you actually look at what the farmers are making out of that price, it’s not great. For an ‘America First’ vision, it feels like they’re putting American farmers last.” – Danielle Endvick, Wisconsin Farmers Union Executive Director

“We’re definitely all feeling the pressure, and when you begin to lose family farms and local economies, you lose a lot of local participation in small economies, and that’s how you end up with downtowns that are empty.… A lot of the color and shine to these small towns goes away when you see the family farms close up. We are closer to big problems than we are to the blue sky if things don’t change soon.” – Tanner Johnson, Barron County soybean farmer

“I’m going to face losses. I don’t want to face losses, that’s eating into my capital, it’s eating into my equity. But that’s what farmers are going to face.” – Michael Slattery, Maribel farmer

“Once those foreign markets, for whatever reason, decide that they don’t need us anymore or can’t trust us, then yeah, that’s going to have a negative impact.” – Hans Breitenmoser, Lincoln County farmer

“We want to see trade, we need to see trade. It’s good for the country as a whole, it’s good for the world as a whole. It’s that free trade that we want to have so we don’t have tariff wars all the time with other countries retaliating, because ultimately the farmer is the one that suffers the most in that process.” – Darin Von Ruden, Wisconsin Farmers Union president and organic dairy farmer

“Even if, right now, we said, ‘We’ll take all tariffs off the table. Let’s just go back to those open markets,’ China has that relationship built up with Argentina and Brazil. They’re not just going to turn around and say, ‘Oh, the U.S. is back in the market, so we’re going to go back to them.’ It’s a relationship that we would have to build back up, and that could take 10, 15 or 20 years to build those relationships back up.” – Doug Rebout, Wisconsin Soybean Association President

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.