Vice President Mike Pence is launching a damage control campaign in the Midwest this week, meeting with key donors to offer reassurances as President Donald Trump’s trade war threatens to devastate soybean and pork production and other key parts of the agricultural industry.
Pence will have one-on-one meetings with Midwestern donors in Kansas City, Cedar Rapids and Chicago, Politico reported. He plans to highlight the strengths of the Trump administration, like Trump’s Supreme Court pick and the Republican tax cut passage, according to a Republican operative who spoke with Politico.
The vice president will also fundraise for three incumbent House Republicans by foreshadowing the potential damage to the Republican Party if Democrats win back control of the House.
The troubleshooting tour comes on the heels of Trump’s latest 25 percent tariff on $34 billion in Chinese goods. The move was met swiftly with equivalent retaliation from China, which has already begun to harm the Midwestern soy and pork industry. The head of a national soybean association told Politico that farmers have already lost 20 percent of their income in soybeans nationally since Trump launched his trade war.
