Doug Sombke, a fourth-generation farmer who leads the South Dakota Farmers Union, says Trump voters in his community are mad. These farmers have long-standing, mutually beneficial relationships with Canadian suppliers. Now they’re suddenly paying more for Canadian fertilizer and having a hard time affording tractors, combines and steel parts. The Canadian companies that make these goods are so shaken by the prospect of tariffs they’ve jacked up their prices—or stopped exporting their products altogether.
In a Q&A for Maclean’s, Sombke says many of his constituents believed that Trump would be better for farmers than Kamala Harris. “Now they see we got sold a bill of goods,” he explains. “Trump keeps leading them on, saying, ‘There’s gonna be some pain.’ I don’t think anybody was ready for this much pain, this soon.”
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—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief, Maclean’s
