Pay the price

"When the US engages in a tit-for-tat fight with our trading partners, farmers pay the price. While we need tough trade enforcement, we need to be smart about avoiding global trade fights that hurt American agriculture."

Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports about two weeks ago, raising concerns both at home and abroad about a possible trade war between the US and its trading partners.

Many analysts believe that US agricultural exports could be the targets in case China, the European Union and other key US trade partners choose to retaliate against the tariffs.

The Chinese mainland trailed Canada in 2017 as the second-largest export market for US agricultural goods. China bought $19.6 billion in US farm goods in 2017, accounting for 14.2 percent of US agricultural exports.

The Chinese mainland is also Montana's second-largest export market after neighboring Canada.