A farmer in Ohio who voted for
President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S.'s escalating trade war with China has left farmers in a "free fall" as profits drop sharply.
In an interview with CNN, Christopher Gibbs said that his farm and others like it were suffering amid the president's continued pressure on Chinese imports and China's retaliatory measures against U.S. exports.
"We're in a free fall out here in agriculture. We've seen a 30 percent decrease in prices of soybeans, and this isn't all about soybeans," Gibbs said.
"With the geopolitical turmoil that the president has thrown into the mix over the last year, the markets just don't have anywhere to go," he added.
Gibbs said rhetoric from the White House and GOP allies of the president thanking "patriot farmers" for bearing the brunt of the burden imposed by the tariffs was cheap rhetoric meant to silence farmers from criticizing the Trump administration.
That rhetoric, Gibbs said, is "just a design to make me continue to be quiet. And I'm not going to be quiet."