“Remember the Little Guy”: Kaine Hears From Virginia Farmers as Canada Trade Fight Drives Up Concern

Just days after failed trade talks between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney prompted new sweeping tariffs and threats of retaliation, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., sat down with Virginia agricultural and forestry producers Monday to hear how the escalating trade dispute could affect an industry already struggling with rising costs and difficult growing conditions.

Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a wide range of Canadian products, while Canada has promised similar actions in retaliation, suggesting tariffs on American dairy, steel, agricultural appliances, paper and electronics beginning in September.

Canada is Virginia’s largest export market. In 2025, $2.9 billion in goods were exported to Canada, representing 15% of the state’s total goods exports.

Kaine met with a roundtable of stakeholders from around the state during the congressional August recess to discuss their most pressing issues. This year has been a challenge on many fronts for farmers across the commonwealth because of drought, spring freezes, skyrocketing gas prices, and tariffs eating into their bottom lines.

“It’s basically been the perfect storm of things. Mother Nature, economic conditions on both supply sides, but then also on the prices that we do receive (for produce),” said Scott Sink, president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Kaine told the farmers that the trade war with one of America’s longest-standing allies made “zero sense” to him. At a time when costs are already rising, with fertilizer costs jumping about 40% this year and bushel yields remaining low, farmers are feeling the financial strain.

Lynwood Broaddus owns a farm in Caroline County with his brother. They primarily grow corn and soybeans, which they export overseas, mostly to Japan. While the Canadian tariffs won’t hit their produce directly, higher gas prices will be costs they can’t pass on elsewhere.

“We’ll probably start picking corn in about two weeks. So we’re getting to come by night, and we’re getting it straight and getting it cleaned up and getting everything greased on it, getting ready to go.” Broaddus said. “Diesel fuel is going to be something that’s going to hurt. But we have to get that crop in one way or another.”

The farmers repeatedly raised concerns about the challenges of bringing younger generations into the agricultural business. Farms are shrinking and disappearing as farmers age. Kaine, who grew up in a farming family in Kansas, said he has watched farms in his community change hands or disappear completely.

“I watch how my family has struggled; commodity prices have been sort of flat,” Kaine said. “All the input prices are going up, export markets are shutting down. You really worry about the ability of families to stay in.”

When asked what he would say to those negotiating the tariff deals, Broaddus said they should “remember the little guy,” including himself and other farmers who eventually bear the brunt of rising costs that are then passed on to consumers.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger also responded on X Monday after the weekend tariff talks fell through.

“President Trump’s new 50% tariffs on Canada will disrupt supply chains and raise costs for Virginia businesses of every size and in every industry, and retaliatory tariffs will hurt Virginians,” Spanberger said. “If the Trump Administration continues down this path, it will have devastating consequences for the Commonwealth.”

There is no indication when additional trade between the U.S. and Canada will take place.

By Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury

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