Trump visits Wisconsin farmers, touts Washington fountains amid tariff strain

Trump returned to Wisconsin farm country and quickly made clear where his attention was divided. At Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, he met with farmers under pressure from low commodity prices, high input costs and trade uncertainty, then spent much of the stop talking about Washington, including his push to improve the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and other fountains.

The visit on Friday, June 5, was Trump’s first trip back to Wisconsin since his reelection in 2024. The White House cast it as part of a broader effort to boost Republican candidates before November’s midterm elections, and several top Wisconsin Republicans joined the event, including U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Tom Tiffany and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

The setting underscored the economic stakes. Custer Farms is known for a heat-processed soybean product used to feed dairy animals, a reminder that dairy remains central to Wisconsin agriculture. But the state’s farm economy has been under severe strain. Farmers have been squeezed by low crop and milk prices, expensive fertilizer, higher fuel and energy costs, and uncertainty over trade policy, especially tariffs that have complicated access to foreign markets.

A recent American Farm Bureau Federation survey helps explain the depth of the pressure. Conducted April 3 to 11 and drawing more than 5,700 responses nationwide, it found that 94% of farmers said their financial situation had either worsened or stayed the same over the previous year. It also found that 70% said fertilizer was so expensive they could not buy all they needed.

Ahead of Trump’s visit, Sen. Tammy Baldwin released a report arguing that Trump administration policies were driving up input costs and cutting off customers for Wisconsin producers. Democratic critics said the administration had helped create the problem and still had no clear answer for farmers facing thinner margins and higher bills.

Trump told the crowd that his administration had delivered new trade markets, less red tape and no taxes on rural property loan interest. He also floated the idea of a possible farm bailout and said fertilizer and energy prices would come down soon. But he also told attendees he could have been home watching TV instead of traveling, a line that captured the split-screen feel of the day as he shifted between agriculture and the Washington projects he appeared eager to promote.

Wisconsin farm leaders have warned that the state is in one of the hardest periods in recent memory. Tyler Wenzlaff of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau said farmers were confronting a brutal stretch, while Darin Von Ruden of the Wisconsin Farmers Union said Wisconsin was still losing about two dairy farms a day. For Trump, the stop was meant to signal rural strength. For many farmers, the question was whether he had brought any real relief.