photo by: Peter Hancock

Josh Svaty, a Democratic candidate for governor, speaks to reporters Tuesday, June 19, 2018, saying President Donald Trump's recent threats to impose tariffs on imports from major trading partners will have a devastating impact on Kansas agriculture and other related industries.

TOPEKA — Democratic candidate for governor Josh Svaty on Tuesday lashed out at Republican President Donald Trump over what could turn into an escalating trade war with China, saying it is already having a direct negative impact on Kansas agriculture and related businesses.

Speaking to reporters a day after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports — and after the Chinese government threatened to retaliate in kind — Svaty said a trade war would “threaten the very heart of the Kansas ag economy.”

“It’s astounding to me as a Democrat here in the heartland that I would have to be raising my voice against a Republican president in the White House to defend trade that is so important for farmers and the ag industry here in the state of Kansas, but that’s exactly what I find myself doing today,” Svaty said.

Trump’s recent threats of trade sanctions against China came on the heels of a similar announcement earlier this month that he intends to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

Although none of the threatened sanctions has gone into effect yet, Svaty said the mere threat of trade wars has already sent stock and commodity prices tumbling.

“I think the concern is, how can farmers who use sophisticated hedging techniques (adapt to the changes)?” he said. “They’re smart, they’re tied into world markets, and they do their very best to hedge their crop and make sure they are prepared for the future. They struggle to do that when you have 30-cent moves in the market day-in and day-out because of us not knowing exactly what’s going to happen.”

Svaty is running in a three-way race for the Democratic nomination for governor against state Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, and former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

Although he conceded that a state governor has little or no direct influence over U.S. trade policy, he said the state needs a governor who can work in concert with the state’s congressional delegation “to put an end to this.”

Much of his campaign has focused on trying to rebuild a Democratic base in western Kansas and other rural areas where Republicans have dominated in state elections for decades. That has taken him to counties that Trump carried in the 2016 election with 70 percent or more of the vote, including Svaty’s home territory in Ellis County.

“I don’t anticipate that western or rural Kansans are going to become Democratic overnight,” he said. “I do think they have the real potential to vote Democratic once, in this election cycle, for me in the general election. But I’ve always said, for the Democratic Party to become competitive statewide, whether they are building their ranks in the rural parts of the state or not, they need to be campaigning statewide.”