First, the freshly inaugurated president withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, a 12-nation pact that was expected to boost U.S. agricultural exports by more than $7bn annually over the coming decades, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Then, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president was thinking about financing his long-promised southern border wall with a 20-percent tax on “imports from deficit countries, like Mexico.”

That announcement, followed by a flurry of clarifications and caveats, appears to be part of a plan for a massive tax overhaul aimed at altering the trade balance country by country. U.S. farmers, who get about 20 percent of their annual revenue from trade, could be hit especially hard if countries choose to retaliate. Consumers, too, would suffer if a border tax increases the price of foreign food.

U.S. agricultural and related products — including dairy, meat, forestry products and fish — amass a $5bn trade surplus with the world, according to the Department of Agriculture. Among the biggest sellers are soy beans, grains, dairy products, meat, nuts, hay, wine, fruit and vegetables.

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