What did Donald Trump do today?

He said he didn't care if American farmers lost part of a $13.2 billion market.

The European Union has been debating whether to close a loophole in its own rules that allows for the importation of agricultural products grown with pesticides that are illegal within the EU. 

Asked about this today, Trump—seemingly unaware of the reason—interpreted it as part of the worldwide trade war he wants to provoke and shrugged.

REPORTER: The European Union is talking about banning food imports from the U.S. 

TRUMP: Why is that? Why? That's okay. I don't mind. I don't mind. Let them do it. They're just hurting if they do that. I can't imagine it but—doesn't matter. We're having reciprocal tariffs. Whatever they charge, we charge. It's very simple.

Trump did not address why he "didn't mind" if American farmers were crippled in the European market. In 2022, farms in the United States exported $13.2 billion worth of food to Europe.

Normally, this would be worked out at a diplomatic level—though it's difficult to see how, if Trump doesn't understand that the EU is talking about banning imports rather than taxing them. Ironically, if Trump follows his own stated trade policy, the ban would be treated as a tariff to be matched by the United States. That would mean American consumers would pay a great deal more for European imports, while American farms would be unable to sell the banned products at all.

American farmers were the biggest casualties in Trump's first-term trade war, both in terms of economic damage and literal deaths.

Why does this matter?

• A president who doesn't know the basic facts of something of critical importance to the U.S. agricultural sector isn't doing his job.

• A president who doesn't care about how his policies affect American farmers isn't fit to do the job.