Overview
- President Trump held a seated farming roundtable at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls on Friday to promote farm-focused measures and speak directly to rural voters.
- At the event he vowed a rapid end to the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and promised fertilizer and gasoline prices would fall, remarks aimed at easing farmers' pocketbook concerns.
- The White House highlighted specific policies — tax changes, Rural Opportunity Zones, a doubled estate tax exemption and other incentives — as offsets to higher input costs.
- Many local farmers and Democrats criticized the visit, saying tariffs and wartime fuel and fertilizer shocks have strained operations, and local officials prepared heightened security for expected protests.
- The stop was part of a wider GOP push in the 3rd District, a closely contested seat that Van Orden won narrowly in 2024 and that national parties view as central to control of the House.