Donald Trump just passed 50 days in his second-go as president, halfway through the first 100 days, the traditional waiting period before early takes on presidencies are written.

Trump has moved too fast to wait 100 days. He signed 82 executive orders in his first 50 days. At that pace, he will surpass shortly after Memorial Day the number of executive orders he signed in his first four-year term.

Nearly every action has had reactions. Some 113 lawsuits — better than two a day — have been filed naming him or a member of his administration as a defendant, according to Just Security, a digital law journal based at the New York University School of Law.

On March 4, a week shy of 50 days, Trump spoke to a rowdy, giddy and divided Congress. “We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started,” he said.

Trump has heralded the end of the zero-tariff era, downsized government, reoriented energy policy, ordered illegal immigrants to be deported and said three times in that speech to Congress that he loved farmers (the only group singled out for such affection that evening.)

He also warned farmers, while speaking of tariffs, that they may have “to bear with me” and that they may be in for a “little bit of an adjustment period.”

Judges have slowed down Trump with preliminary rulings, particularly on freezing federal spending and firing federal employees, though those issues appear far from settled. Trump himself has issued orders and then pulled back, particularly on tariffs.

Washington State University agricultural economist Randy Fortenbery said tariffs can damage the economy, but can be a good negotiating ploy or way to address unfair trade practices.

“Right now it’s a very confusing picture,” he said. “It’s hard to make a general statement until we have a clear picture of what the actual policy is — and that changes day to day.”

Tough talk on trade

Trump has twice pulled back from levying 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, but tariffs are coming April 2, the president says.

The White House justifies tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as China, by invoking the  International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. The emergency, according to the White House, is that the three countries have not done enough to stop the cross-border trafficking of fentanyl.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country has stepped up border patrols and called the tariffs “bogus.” China called fentanyl a “flimsy excuse.” China is ready for a trade war, or any other kind of war, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. “Bullying does not work on us,” he said.

Whatever the legal justification, Trump has said tariffs will cause manufacturers to open plants in the U.S. and that farmers will benefit by not having to compete with foreign products.

“It’s a very powerful weapon that politicians haven’t used because they were either dishonest, stupid or paid off in some form. And now we’re using them,” he said.

Major farm groups criticized the tariffs. The American Farm Bureau said tariffs will hurt rural America. After Trump told farmers to “have fun” selling goods domestically, the American Soybean Association said tariffs are “no fun.”

“Tariffs are not something to take lightly and ‘have fun’ with,” said Kentucky soy farmer Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association.

The reaction was not universal. R-CALF, whose members raise cattle and sheep, welcomed tariffs on Mexico and Canada and hopes for tariffs on Australia, New Zealand and South American countries.

The zero-tariff era shrunk the U.S. cattle and sheep industry as cheaper imports displaced American beef and lamb, R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard said. Every time prices increase and ranchers have reason to rebuild herds, foreign imports increase, too, he said.

“It’s always a flash in the pan.”

With tariffs, retail prices may increase in the short term, but in the long run ranchers will increase production, making the U.S. less reliant on other countries to feed itself, Bullard said.

“We have to go through a transition phase where tariffs become the normal way for a country to maintain its self-sufficiency,” he said.

During Trump’s first term, U.S. farmers — primarily soybean and sorghum growers, and pork producers — lost $27 billion because of retaliatory tariffs in 2018 and 2019, according to the USDA Economic Research Service.

China accounted for 95% of the losses. Soybean and sorghum growers, and pork producers took the biggest losses. Losses could be more widespread if tariffs cause U.S. farmers to lose business elsewhere, Fortenbery said.

Trump eventually reached a deal with China to buy more U.S. goods, including farm products. China committed to buying $73.9 billion worth of farm goods over two years, but actually bought $61 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Researchers attributed the shortfall to China diversifying its supply of farm goods and rushing shipping containers back to China without waiting for them to be loaded with U.S. exports during Covid.

Trump blames the Biden administration for not enforcing the agreement. “You really have to bear with me again and this will be even better,” Trump told farmers in his speech to Congress.

The DOGE deluge

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is the face of downsizing government. He said he’s taking flak and getting death threats, but the work is essential. “If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt. That’s why it has to be done,” Musk said.

So far, the Department of Government Efficiency has reported savings of $105 billion, or a little more than 1% of Musk’s trillion-dollar goal.

On its website, DOGE lists hundreds of canceled items, like the $264,851 the USDA Food and Nutrition Service planned to spend on a three-day retreat to Atlanta, or the $26,215 USDA contract to an El Paso, Texas, professional services company for an “El Salvador and Honduras gender assessment.”

The Trump administration also has paused spending. Irrigation districts that fund projects with federal grants are waiting for promised money, Washington State Water Resources Association executive director John Stuhlmiller said.

“The emphasis on finding efficiencies in government is overdue. Turning over and looking under every rock is encouraging,” Stuhlmiller said. “With that said, people have major uncertainty about whether it’s their rock that’s going to be turned over.”

It’s unclear whether the Trump administration can make its cuts stick. Oregon, Washington, California and other blue states are in court to keep the federal spigot open.

The Justice Department acknowledges the Office of Personnel Management doesn’t have the authority to dismiss federal employees, but the public employee unions have compiled evidence that OPM directed the firings of tens of thousands of workers purportedly based on their performance.

A fired USDA “food technologist” asked for specifics about his performance and received an email from a USDA human resources officer telling him that OPM ordered the terminations and “directed the use of the specific template and language,” according to a court filing.

OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell denied ordering the firings, stating in a court declaration that individual agencies decided which employees to terminate. U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said the evidence contradicts Ezell.

Immigration worries

On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order making it U.S. policy to deport all illegal immigrants. The USDA estimates 40% of U.S. farmworkers are illegal immigrants.

The Washington advocacy group Save Family Farming warned deportations will threaten farms. “Justice demands a fair and orderly immigration process — one that does not rely on fear or intimidation to control the lives of those who simply seek to work and provide for their families,” said Save Family Farming president Markus Rollinger, a dairy farmer.

The Department of Homeland Security rescinded a long-standing policy against enforcing immigration laws in certain places, such as schools, churches, hospitals and parades.

The new policy instructs officers to use common sense, but erased the red line that put some places off-limits. Lawsuits are pending in federal courts to prevent immigration laws from being enforced in churches and schools.

DHS has said it will not pick and choose which immigration laws to enforce and that it will use every tool it has to compel illegal immigrants to self-deport.

National Agricultural Employers Council President and CEO Michael Marsh said he prays it won’t worsen a shortage in farmworkers.

“It does concern me,” he said. “It’s going to be an interesting year.”