CNBC’s LaRocco: No one wins in a trade war

Farmers across the Midwest are in a flux. With President Trump’s ongoing trade war with China and experiencing an extremely harsh and difficult agricultural season, farmers are struggling now more than ever.

These farmers are now turning toward the nation’s leaders for advice and knowledge pertaining to the ongoing U.S.-China trade-war.

In light of this, host, Joel Heitkamp visits with CNBC senior editor and author Lori Ann LaRocco, about her expertise and knowledge within the trade industry.

LaRocco is releasing her new book, “Trade War: Containers Don’t Lie, Navigating the Bluster,” on Nov. 13, and she talks with Heitkamp about how it relates to many of the trade struggles farmers here in North Dakota continue to face head on. 

“I’ve been focusing on maritime for many years and in my last maritime book when President Trump won the election, a lot of the trade rhetoric we were hearing I was actually researching already,” says LaRocco. “I’ve just been following the flow of trade and based on the promises we were hearing by the Chinese, it just wasn’t adding up to the flow of trade because trade is agnostic, it’s just supply and demand, and so I decided to write the book so people know what the truth is.” 

“One of the biggest misconceptions we are seeing is this possible deal with China that we’re hearing about and how the President said that farmers will have to plow more land and buy more John Deere’s to meet the demand of possible agriculture purchases made by China over the next two years,” adds LaRocco. “People are forgetting the $11 billion and counting that the agriculture industry has lost during this trade war because this is money that is never coming back. The Trump Administration would have to say, ‘OK China, pony up $61 billion to make the farmer whole,’ because they will never be whole based on this deal.”

When Heitkamp asks LaRocco to define a win, she says, “I understand why we are, but we aren’t getting the results of what we say we’re doing. Was it worth it, that’s the question? Yes, Trump had to do it because they’ve been robbing us blind for decades but the bottom line is that no one wins in a trade war.” 

“It’s all rhetoric still,” concludes LaRocco. “For every acre cultivated outside the US is an acre taken away from the US farmer so these facts don’t lie, the flow of trade is never going back because there are already other options for China, it’s just common sense.”