America Is ‘LOSING the Ability to Feed Itself’: Senator Proposes Tariff Bill to Save US Agriculture

Amid domestic economic struggles, Sen. Bill Cassidy announced Thursday that he will introduce a bill to raise tariff quotas on food and agricultural products.

The Louisiana Republican’s Home Market Restoration Act of 2026 would raise tariff rates to protect products from his home state such as shrimp, rice, honey, and beef—tariff rates that Congress has not updated or adjusted for inflation since the 1930s.

“The United States is losing the ability to feed itself. An unchecked flood of imports has been unfairly driving American farmers, fishermen, and ranchers out of business,” Blake Price, director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, stated in the press release announcing the bill.

The aim of the bill is to “stop import surges” that allegedly strangle domestic food production. Tariffs on these surges would “restore fair prices and keep American producers in business.”

“Many staple commodities from Louisiana farms are struggling economically due to foreign competitors dumping cheap, inferior products into our markets. Senator Cassidy has long been fighting to give Louisiana farmers a chance,” the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation stated in support of Cassidy’s bill.

The bill announcement came just four months after the Supreme Court ruled against President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose global tariffs.

The court struck down tariffs that Trump placed on Canada, Mexico, and China in response to drug trafficking concerns, as well as “reciprocal” tariffs that sought to alleviate “trade deficits.” 

“Today over 70% of lamb and 22% of beef consumed in America is sourced from foreign countries. America should not tolerate its growing dependency on foreign countries for our food. This is a threat to national security,” Bill Bullard, the CEO of R-CALF USA, said in support.

“Senator Cassidy’s bill will help America’s cattle and sheep producers rebuild our domestic supply chains for lamb and beef.”