OPINION: If Trump really cared about Main Street, Iowa would feel it

President Donald Trump visited Iowa this week, touting his economic record and asking voters to believe he stands with working people, small businesses, and farmers.

As business and farm leaders who live this economy every day, we wish that were true. But what matters to Main Street Iowa is not the stagecraft. It is whether policies actually make it easier to run a business or farm, hire workers, and plan for the future.

Right now, they do not.

If Trump truly cared about Main Street, his policies would show it in three basic ways: supporting healthcare and care infrastructure, providing trade stability, and backing Iowa farmers instead of using them as pawns.

On healthcare, Iowa is one of the sickest states in the country. We have high rates of chronic illness, rural hospital closures, and a workforce that depends on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage to stay healthy enough to work.

Under Trump, Medicaid has been slashed, and ACA subsidies were allowed to expire. That is not an abstract policy debate for small businesses. When workers lose coverage, they miss shifts, delay care, and leave the workforce entirely. When families lose healthcare, local businesses lose customers. When rural hospitals struggle, entire communities weaken.

Gutting care infrastructure is not pro business or pro farmer. It is a direct hit to Main Street Iowa.

On trade, President Trump’s constant back and forth on tariffs has made it nearly impossible to plan. For retailers, manufacturers, and agg-dependent businesses, uncertainty is poison. You cannot price inventory, negotiate contracts, or make long term investments when trade policy changes with a headline.

Small businesses are not Wall Street firms that can hedge risk with teams of lawyers and traders. We live on tight margins. Stability is what allows us to hire, expand, and invest locally. Chaos makes us pull back.

On agriculture, Iowa farmers were told they would be protected and that fairer trade would follow. Instead, they were caught in the middle of trade wars that decimated exports, depressed prices, and betrayed trust with long standing global customers.
While Iowa farmers are absorbing the fallout, the Trump administration is preoccupied with foreign fights and financial commitments abroad, including support for countries like Argentina, while Iowa’s soybean farmers are left holding the bag. It is a slap in the face to rural communities that fuel this state’s economy.

If you run a shop, a farm, or a small manufacturing business in Iowa, you know the truth. Pageantry does not pay the bills. Healthcare that keeps workers and farmers healthy does. Pragmatic and fair trade policies do. Investments in rural healthcare infrastructure do.

If Trump wants to claim he stands with Main Street and with farmers, he should start by showing it in his policies, not just his rallies.

Iowa does not need more performance. We need leadership that actually makes it easier to run a business, keep workers healthy, and keep farms profitable.

Until that happens, the speeches are just noise.