A coalition of industry groups appealed to senior administration officials on the eve of what President Donald Trump has dubbed “Liberation Day” to urge the administration to pursue a trade policy that supports U.S. ag producers.

The president is expected to announce sweeping new “reciprocal” duties Wednesday against U.S. trade partners that will hike tariffs on countries that maintain higher tariff rates and trade barriers than the U.S. The coalition of 18 industry groups warned, however, that the U.S. agricultural sector is particularly vulnerable to retaliation and trade shocks.

“More than 20% of U.S. farm income is based on agricultural exports, and it is much higher for many commodities,” the groups wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and groups from the soybean, wheat, cotton, corn, fresh produce, milk, grain, feed, pork and fertilizer industries were among the signatories.

U.S. agricultural products have already faced retaliation from China and Canada following new U.S. duties. The European Union has also identified a slate of farm products set for future retaliatory duties. The groups warned that additional tariffs could spur further retaliation against U.S. producers.

“[R]etaliation will create financial hardships for U.S. farmers, ranchers, growers and agribusinesses who are already operating on very thin or negative margins and have not regained the market share lost during the last trade war,” the letter reads. “The looming threat of a renewed trade conflict with our top trading partners has the potential for long-term negative ramifications for American farmers, ranchers, growers and agribusinesses.”

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A trade policy that advances the interests of the U.S. agricultural sector, they argued, would prioritize opening new markets and uphold existing agreements that provide market access for U.S. producers.

Accordingly, the groups note their support for the administration’s efforts to launch trade discussions with the United Kingdom and India. They also tout the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s impact on North American agricultural trade.

“The administration’s agricultural trade agenda must focus on maintaining existing markets, avoiding punitive tariffs that put farmers, ranchers and growers on the front line of retaliation, and an aggressive strategy that expands market access for U.S. agricultural products,” the groups conclude. “We stand ready to work with you and the President to achieve this outcome through the priorities we have outlined.”

The letter comes on the back of a full-throated lobbying effort from the U.S. agriculture sector in recent weeks and months that has seen industry groups and lobbyists ask for specific tariff exemptions, tariff delays and assurances that the president will wield forthcoming reciprocal duties to lower trade barriers for U.S. agriculture.

Republican lawmakers have also appealed to the administration for tariff carveouts for specific agricultural inputs, like potash, and have made similar calls for tariffs to be used as a negotiating tool for market access.

“I hope the end result of the tariffs is that by putting on reciprocal tariffs it brings other countries to bring their tariffs down,” Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told Fox News on Tuesday. “I think if we had less tariffs throughout the world, we’d have a stronger, not  only U.S. economy, but we’d have a stronger world economy.”

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