WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than $21 billion worth of U.S. corn and soybean exports are at risk after some of the United States’ top trade partners, China, Canada and the European Union, all announced new tariffs on U.S. goods from those countries.

The U.S. exported about $6.5 billion worth of corn and $15.1 billion of soybeans in 2024, according to data from the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China’s new tariffs of 15% on corn and 10% on soybeans went into effect Monday, while the European Union announced new tariffs to come into effect in April.

The tariffs came as retaliation against President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on those countries’ goods.

Agriculture accounts for one in eight workers in Ohio and $124 billion in business each year, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The state’s top crops are corn and soybeans.

“About every other row of the soybean across the country gets exported. It’s obviously very, very important,” said Jack Irvin, vice president of public policy at the Ohio Farm Bureau. “We just want to keep carrying that message of don’t forget about us.”

About 85 members of the Ohio Farm Bureau are in Washington D.C. this week to speak with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The group met with Ohio Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno Wednesday morning.

At the event, Husted acknowledged that the retaliatory measures on corn and soybeans would create another hurdle for farmers, who have lost market share of international corn and soybean exports to other countries during Trump’s first U.S.-China trade war starting in 2018. Ohio soybean exports never recovered, sinking 60% from 2019 to 2023.

“I think the president is going to help work through those things,” Husted said when asked what he would say to farmers who are losing money because of the tariffs. “I think it remains to be seen what those impacts are. And once we see what those impacts are, then we’ll talk with the president about how to respond.”

He also said that tariffs against countries like China were necessary to counter a trade imbalance in industries beyond agriculture.

“I'm trying to be aggressive to try to help the president achieve his goals, but also help make sure that we minimize disruption with the operations that we have in the state of Ohio and in America,” he said.

A February poll by Purdue University found nearly half of U.S. farmers, a plurality, think trade policy will be the most important issue for their farm in the next five years.

Farmers have already come under increased financial pressure the last three years as the cost of seeds, fertilizer and equipment rose while crop prices fell.

Last week Trump asked farmers to bear with him through an “adjustment period,” and there could be more changes on the horizon.

On Thursday, March 13, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will meet with Canadian leaders to renegotiate the free trade treaty between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.