President Donald Trump's recent tweet in which he promised to give farmers $12 billion, only for them to send their surplus food to developing countries sounds like a two-fer: Help U.S farmers deal with U.S protectionism, while feeding people in developing countries. In fact, it's a no-fer: It would weaken farmers in developing countries, while increasing dependency among American farmers on government aid.
As anyone who has taken Economics 101 should realize, food aid has undermined the Third World agricultural sector by depressing local markets and thereby discouraging local production. Local consumers are no doubt delighted by the prospect of consuming free food, but local farmers would be completely undercut.
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