Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump's tariffs on China got a reaction from China: It greatly cut down on the number of soybeans it buys from U.S. farmers. This inflicted great pain on U.S. soybean farmers who normally sell their crop to China. Trump decided to bail them out from his own policies by giving them $12 billion as a bailout (despite his history of opposing bailouts, unless those bailouts are for casinos with 'Trump' in the name). He said he will get the money from the tariffs. Of course, if the Supreme Court kills the tariffs, Congress will have to cough up the money, and Democrats will surely demand something in return for bailing out Trump's supporters. Last year, China bought about $12 billion worth of soybeans from U.S. farmers.
This is not the first time Trump bailed out farmers hurt by his policies. During Trump v1.0, he gave $28 billion in free money to farmers hurt by his policies.
Whether this bailout is legal is very doubtful. The money from tariffs does not go into a presidential slush fund to be used at the president's discretion. It goes into the U.S. Treasury and the Constitution makes it clear that money in the treasury cannot be taken out except by congressional appropriation. However, it is hard to see who might have standing to sue. (V)