RFA Ethanol Podcast

Trump Puts John Deere on Notice

Cindy Zimmerman

During a roundtable discussion on agriculture in Pennsylvania Monday, former President Donald Trump called out John Deere for moving its manufacturing to Mexico.

“I’m just notifying John Deere right now, if you do that we’re putting a 200% tariff on everything you want to sell into the United States,” said Trump, pointing out the Deere tractors in the backdrop and saying he loves the company. “John Deere’s a great name, I buy a lot of John Deere products as a private person.”

Deere announced plans in June to acquire land in Mexico to build a new facility and shift some production from Dubuque, Iowa to Mexico. Trump warned what will happen if that if that is successful. “If they build in Mexico, they start closing plants. In this case, it was in Iowa…The problem is that’s just the beginning. Then all of a sudden you’ll hear in a year from now, they’re gonna do another one, another one. All of a sudden, they’re not gonna be in the country anymore. They’re gonna have to pay a very big price to be able to sell that product into the United States.”

Listen to some of Trump’s remarks here:
Trump talks to farmers in PA 12:52

Audio, John Deere, politics, Tractor, Trade