U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer recently sat before the Senate Finance Committee and made his case: President Donald Trump’s trade agenda is delivering for American workers, manufacturers, and farmers. The record of accomplishment he outlined is impressive — 19 framework or reciprocal trade deals covering nearly a third of global GDP, a goods trade deficit that fell 24 percent, and an agricultural trade gap that shrank from $6.2 billion under the previous administration to roughly $3 billion today.
Those are numbers worth celebrating. But if the administration is serious about proving that its trade strategy truly puts American workers first, it must close a gap that is quietly draining the wallets of the very people this agenda claims to champion: the added costs from tariffs on off-road utility vehicles like ATVs and UTVs that our farmers, energy workers, and first responders depend on to do their jobs every day.
Growing up on my family’s farm, I learned early on that working vehicles are not toys. They’re tools as essential as a tractor or a truck. It’s how we move livestock, transport supplies, or check on irrigation systems. Now factor in the energy crews inspecting pipelines miles from the nearest paved road, and the local firefighters and rescue teams who use this equipment to reach flood zones and wilderness areas that larger trucks simply cannot. These machines are the backbone of rural and working America.
That indispensable machinery just got a lot more expensive. Currently under Section 232, products made partially of steel — including UTVs, ATVs, and their replacement parts — face tariffs on their full value, adding thousands of dollars to the cost of a single vehicle.
Ambassador Greer told the Finance Committee that this administration’s trade strategy is about building an economy that is “resilient from shocks,” that raises wages for American workers, and that strengthens food security and domestic manufacturing. Those are the right goals. But when a rancher in Idaho or Texas has to delay replacing worn-out vehicles because tariffs added thousands of dollars to the price tag, the strategy is not benefiting the people it’s meant to protect. Farmers already operate on thin margins, squeezed by volatile commodity prices and rising input costs. Piling a five-figure tariff bill onto essential equipment doesn’t reindustrialize America. It makes it harder for the people doing the essential work to keep doing it.
The good news is that the administration has already shown it knows how to fix this kind of problem. When tariffs made motorcycles and e-bikes unaffordable, it granted targeted Section 232 relief. Off-road utility vehicles deserve the same commonsense treatment.
As USTR seeks an updated agreement with Canada and Mexico and continues to defend its trade record on Capitol Hill, it has a chance to show that “America First” trade policy also includes American farmers, energy workers, and emergency response personnel. Excluding working vehicles and their components from Section 232 tariffs is a small, targeted fix that would deliver a massive win for rural America, domestic energy production, and the safety of the communities our first responders protect.
President Trump’s trade agenda has already scored real wins, and Ambassador Greer deserves credit for defending it forcefully before a skeptical committee. Now is the time to build on that momentum by fixing the parts of the policy that are unintentionally working against the very Americans it’s designed to help. Protecting the machines that keep American agriculture, energy, and public safety running isn’t a departure from this trade agenda — it’s the fulfillment of it.
Todd Cranney is the executive director of Save America’s Working Vehicles, which advocates for targeted relief from tariffs and continued access to the vehicles that keep America’s core industries running.
