philadelphia. we ll follow that story. some of america s hardest working men and women are farmers. and they are feeling caught in the middle of a president trump s fight with china on trade. and they re asking the president to rethink his position on the matter before it s too late for them. correspondent doug mckelway has part one of our series on the fate of american farms. douglas comey and his employees arrive at one of hundreds of fields they farm throughout virginia. but the wind means spreading fertilizer will have to wait. unpredictable weather like this has kept farmers looking at the up sky for centuries. today they are also looking towards washington. china has trend retaliation of the proposed 25% tariff on u.s. corn, s soybeans and many other u.s. agricultural exports. it would put many people out of business, including maybe myself. we can t keep going without nothing. the looming trade war has rallied farm state lawmakers who see widespread economic
damage to rural america if a trade war erupts. about one in five jobs are tied to trade. so we really feel the brunt of that in our state. in anticipation of retaliation, the administration floated a trump proposal for softening the blow to farmers. he has asked the department of agriculture to protect our farmers and present a plan on specifics of that shortly. many believe farmers want support not from the government but from markets. we need china. china needs us. china is very important to u.s. agriculture. and it is my sincere hope that this situation will be deescalated. last week farm state lawmakers met with the president warning him of the damage to agriculture. they came away encouraged. senator joni ernst was one of several who coaxed the president to consider reengaging in the trans-pacific partnership. i have long, long been pushing for tpp. and i say it not just as an advantage for our farmers