It’s hard to argue with the premise behind President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States. A $375 billion annual trade deficit in favor of the Asian country needs to be addressed.

But more thought should have been given to the unintended consequences of firing the first shots in this trade war. Those volleys, in the form of 25 percent tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese products, have predictably led to the Chinese returning fire by imposing tariffs of their own on more than 120 imported U.S. commodities and lowering their commitments to purchase U.S.-grown soybeans.

It’s hard to find a winner in the early stages of this battle. Increased taxes (and a tariff is a tax by another name) are rarely beneficial, as members of Trump’s own party are wont to argue.

But the losers so far are alarmingly obvious. U.S. farmers, including those right here in southcentral Kentucky, are caught in a potentially lethal crossfire.

Already buffeted by the vagaries of the weather and the volatility of commodity markets, farmers could be pushed over the edge by the tariffs imposed by China on commodities such as pork and soybeans.

Locally, soybean farmers such as Andy Alford are feeling the pain and have nowhere to look for relief.

Alford, a member of the Kentucky Soybean Board, points out that China’s response to Trump’s tariffs has resulted in a price drop of nearly $2 per bushel of beans. That’s understandable, when you consider that China accounts for one-third of the market for U.S. soybeans.

But it isn’t palatable for farmers who could be losing money by the bushel basket come harvest season.

It’s a situation that has farmers like Alford – many of whom switched to growing beans when corn prices tanked – seeing red.

Their bottom-line losses and their justified anger over a politically imposed market downturn have led those who make their living from the soil to cultivate a taste for the political arena.

They’re turning their plowshares into lobbying tools, banding together through groups such as the American Soybean Association to bring their message to decision-makers in Washington, D.C.

As they should. Lawmakers need to be told (if they don’t already know) that much of our agricultural economy is facing a crisis at least partly created by the actions of politicos. Those legislators who have long talked the talk by praising farmers now have the opportunity to walk the walk by pushing for change in the tariff policy and finding ways to help farmers through the federal farm bill now being discussed.

And those lawmakers who have earned votes and goodwill through espousing an anti-tax ideology would do well to listen to Alford’s words: “We’re hopeful that something positive can come out of this, but we’re not for tariffs.”