Carroll County among 15 places where tariffs could hit hardest

CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI)— According to Brookings Institution, 1,835 jobs in Carroll County would be affected in the animal processing industry.

Around 2.1 million jobs in 40 industries nationwide would be impacted due to the 25 percent tariffs by China. Brookings Institution stated that nearly 36 percent of Carroll County’s employment would be also affected.

Purdue agricultural economist Chris Hurt said the impact may not be immediate but we will see a change.

“Indiana is going to be affected by the tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs that we’ve seen from other countries around the world,” said Hurt. “We think over time we’ll see the tariff China has put over soybeans will lower the price of soybeans to about 50 cents a bushel.”

Hurt said farmers would see roughly around a 10 percent hit in the revenue they’d receive.

Indiana Packers Corporation is the largest employer in Carroll County and responded with the statement from the company’s COO, Russ Yearwood, who reacted to the Brookings Institution analysis:

“To date, we have not felt the impact of the Chinese tariffs and have not sold pork into the Chinese market for many years,” said Yearwood.

“While Indiana ranks among the top ten states in the country for agricultural output and among the top five for pork production. Indiana Packers continues to deliver quality pork products to its customers both here in the United States and overseas. We are watching the situation to see how it goes.”

Hurt said it’s only a matter of time until everyday shoppers will begin to notice price increases: “This will be felt, is being felt in terms of farm family income and with those tariffs now in place, we are going to see those incomes squeeze even harder.”

Hurt also stated the tariffs will affect everyone not just those directly in the farming industry and consumers will be seeing a slight increase in the cost of products like cosmetics and other imports.