Sen. Chuck Grassley admitted Wednesday that President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and now $200 billion on China make him and his constituents in Iowa "very very nervous," and he hopes the president "knows what he's doing."
"It doesn't just affect five percent of the people in Iowa that operate farms, it ripples through the whole economy," the Iowa Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "I am a free trader. I do want the president to level the playing field with countries that have more barriers to trade than we do, but uncertainty of it is very bad."
If Trump doesn't "go over the brink," it will be better for the United States, said Grassley, but "if he does go over the brink, it will be catastrophic."
The price of soybean and corn have already been falling, so the tariff plan has "already been catastrophic," said Grassley. "If you want to sell your beans and corn today, if you wait a while, maybe you can do better. Or, if you sold them two months ago, you did better. This has had a very detrimental impact on current markets."
Grassley said he has had the opportunity, along with other senators, over the past three months to tell Trump about the effect the tariffs could have on agriculture, "so they know where we're coming from."
However, the president is "being the businessman that he is," said Grassley, and his philosophy that the longer the negotiations continue, the better the deal will be.
"Well, I hope he knows what he's doing," said Grassley. "It is making people nervous."
He told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo that "every senator" representing farmers in several states, particularly in the midwest, is "very nervous."
"Farmers basically are free traders," he said, noting that his own son operates a family farm. "There isn't a single farmer that wouldn't be supporting the president to get a better level-playing field with countries that have high tariffs, so we would appreciate his doing that."
However, the "uncertainty" is leading to dropping prices, and if that continues, it will be "catastrophic."