Trump’s Trade War Is Stressing Red State Farmers
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bryant Kagay is a farmer in Missouri feeling the uncertainty of President Donald Trump’s tariffs up close. He voted for Trump last year but now questions whether the trade war with China is part of a long-term strategy that could help US businesses or merely a short-term negotiating tactic. In this episode of More To The Story, he says the on-again, off-again nature of the trade war could restrict his ability to sell agricultural goods like soybeans when the harvest comes this fall.
Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson
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Listen: The Many Contradictions of a Trump Victory (Reveal)
Listen: What Trump’s Tariff Shock Will Cost You (More To The Story)
Read: Trump’s Assault on Small Farmers (Mother Jones)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What I'm selling is a commodity. |
| 0:04.0 | Like I like to think that my corn is really good, but as far as the markets are concerned, |
| 0:10.0 | my corn doesn't really look any different than anybody else's. |
| 0:14.0 | So if mine is now 20% higher or 120% higher, whatever these tariffs are, |
| 0:20.0 | I'll just buy it somewhere else else because it's the same stuff. |
| 0:24.0 | Coming up on more to the story, Brian Kagey, |
| 0:26.9 | a farmer from Missouri talks about running his business |
| 0:29.7 | during a trade war with threatening tariffs. |
| 0:32.5 | Don't go anywhere. |
| 0:37.2 | Music This is more to the story. I'm Al Letson. |
| 0:49.3 | Since coming into office, Donald Trump has set off a trade war with China and much of the rest of the world, spreading uncertainty about markets and the U.S. economy. |
| 0:58.4 | Can you imagine running a business that depends on international trade right now, especially with China? |
| 1:03.9 | My guest today is Brian Kegi. |
| 1:06.1 | He runs a family farm in the red state of Missouri, and selling soybeans to China is a huge part of his |
| 1:12.2 | business. Brian, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. Just happy to be talking with you this morning. |
| 1:19.3 | So tell me about your farm. From what I understand, you weren't living in this area. You |
| 1:26.7 | weren't living in Missouri for a while, and then you and your |
| 1:29.2 | family came back? Yeah. Well, so I'm the fourth generation on our family farm. I guess my great |
| 1:36.0 | grandfather, he started a very small operation, and then my grandfather has grown it, really |
| 1:42.5 | mostly in the 60s and 70s and 80s. |
| 1:45.0 | But yeah, following college, I had a corporate job, lived in several different states. |
| 1:51.0 | But in 2018, my wife and I decided to come back and work into the farm, more in a management-type role, |
... |
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