John Deere has been hit hard by President Donald Trump's tariffs. The farm equipment manufacturer and industry bellwether just announced mass layoffs affecting more than 200 workers at three Midwestern plants.
The company is set to fire 115 employees at a facility in East Moline, Illinois, later this month, according to the Des Moines Register. Next month, 52 workers at a facility in Moline, Illinois, and 71 employees at a facility in Waterloo, Iowa, will also reportedly be terminated.
"As stated on our most recent earnings call, the struggling ag economy continues to impact orders for John Deere equipment," said the company in a statement, per Illinois Public Media. "This is a challenging time for many farmers, growers and producers, and directly impacts our business in the near term."
In that same earnings call, John Deere attributed a slowdown in Q3 sales to customer cautiousness amid Trump's freewheeling tariff policy.
"If you have customers that are concerned about what their end markets are going to look like in a tariff environment, they're waiting to see the outcomes of what these trade deals look like," said John Deere executive Cory Reed.