John Deere Hit With Layoffs Amidst Trump's Idiotic Tariffs

Donald Trump’s tariff policies are generating billions of dollars for the federal government by sucking it out of American businesses via import duties. Some companies seem to be feeling downstream impacts from the government’s unconventional new policies, and it may even be resulting in job losses for the sort of companies that sell to Trump’s base.

John Deere, the tractor seller, recently announced a raft of layoffs, but right before doing that, it held an unfortunate earnings call during which executives revealed that the company had seen a downturn in profits. Some of that downturn, the call seemed to suggest, could be credited to the climate of uncertainty created by the administration’s tariff regime. The Des Moines Register reports:

In its earnings report, the company noted that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have added to the woes of farm-equipment makers who already were grappling with slow demand. Farmers are opting to rent machinery instead of buying. “Tariff uncertainty and deflated commodity prices have made farmers increasingly cautious in spending decisions and more hesitant to accept higher machinery prices,” said CFRA Research analyst Jonathan Sakraida.

The New Republic reports that, during the company’s recent earnings call, Cory Reed, president of John Deere’s Worldwide Agriculture and Turf Division, noted that the tariffs were a factor in buying decisions. “If you have customers that are concerned about what their end markets are going to look like in a tariff environment, they’re waiting to see the outcomes of what these trade deals look like,” Reed said.

In other words, once again, demographics that Trump claimed he would help (factory workers and farmers) seem to be getting shafted by his policies. The layoffs at John Deere, which were announced on Aug. 18th, will impact 71 workers at its foundry in Iowa and another 167 workers at various locations in Illinois, the Register writes.

While the side effects of Trump’s tariff regime haven’t been quite as apocalyptic as some analysts initially imagined, the economy isn’t doing great, and small business owners are clearly feeling the pain from the new economic order. Indeed, recent lawsuits filed by small businesses against the Trump administration have thrown into question the very legal basis of his policies. As we pointed out earlier this month, if the tariffs are deemed illegal in a court of law, it’s likely that the government will have to pay back all of that tariff revenue to the businesses it came from. This would be a terrible humiliation for the White House, a logistical nightmare, and a financial disaster for the federal government. Somehow, it’s still sorta funny to imagine it happening.