Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 7/12/18

President Donald Trump was met with a lot of criticism Wednesday over his latest move to slap tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods. U.S. lawmakers, major trading partners and agricultural leaders, by and large, slammed the escalating trade war and insisted that an extended conflict will only hurt farmers, consumers and businesses in the world's two largest economies.

The threat of tariffs will "have lasting, irreversible consequences on farming operations," said Casey Guernsey, spokesman for Americans for Farmers and Families, a farm group opposed to Trump's trade policies. "Farmers and families are rightly sounding the alarm as the frequency and magnitude of trade tensions continue to escalate with no relief in sight."

In Congress, top Republicans urged Trump to sit down face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping and find a solution, saving farmers and consumers from the crosshairs.

"It's clear the escalating trade dispute with China will go one of two ways - a long, multiyear trade war between the two largest economies in the world that engulfs more and more of the globe, or a deliberate decision by President Trump and President XI to meet and begin crafting an agreement that levels the playing field between China and the U.S. for local farmers, workers and businesses," House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said.

Overseas, Beijing rejected the new tariff list as "totally unacceptable" and vowed to respond with countermeasures as well as an additional lawsuit at the World Trade Organization — it would be the third China has brought against the U.S. this year.

Trump tries to soothe farmers: Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday tweeted a misleading statement about the plight of U.S. farmers, blaming other countries' trade barriers and tariffs for "destroying their businesses," despite the fact that farm exports have grown in recent years.

Farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses are expected to send nearly $143 billion worth of products overseas this year, resulting in a trade surplus of about $21 billion. And agricultural trade has more than tripled over the last 30 years with economic and population growth globally.

The president also claimed in his tweet that farmers have "done poorly" over the last 15 years, but agricultural economists attribute the decline in recent years to falling commodity prices as a result of surplus supplies - not trade barriers from other countries. 

Trump's trade opponents jump in: Meanwhile, the Senate passed a largely symbolic measure to push back against Trump's recent use of the law that gives him authority to impose tariffs on trading partners, such as Mexico and Canada, in the name of national security.

"It's just a step in the direction we'd like to go," Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said before what he called a "test vote" on the nonbinding measure. The vote was the latest move in a quest by some lawmakers - including Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) - to rein in the Trump administration's trade powers.