How Trump's trade war is making US farmers anxious

Josh Yoder, a fifth-generation farmer in Ohio, has been watching gyrations in the crop markets as Donald Trump moved to dramatically escalate his trade war with China this week. Yoder is still an ardent Trump supporter, but he's also getting nervous about whether the president's strategy is going to pay off.

"The world is trying to figure out if Trump is playing chess or checkers," said Yoder, a 39-year-old who voted for the president in the past three elections. "If it's the former, it would be a cool, long-term benefit. If it's the latter, we're going down a path we've never gone down in my lifetime."

Yoder's words echo a growing sense of apprehension across America's crop belt, a major Trump voting bloc. Farmers have a deep sense of just how dependent they are on China for a steady clip of demand – a trade flow that's allowed the US to rank among the world's top crop exporters.

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