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Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Thursday $16 billion in aid to help farmers hurt by the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. Here, Perdue walks past the West Wing of the White House.

Andrew Harnik/AP

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Andrew Harnik/AP

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Thursday $16 billion in aid to help farmers hurt by the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. Here, Perdue walks past the West Wing of the White House.

Andrew Harnik/AP

Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET

The Trump administration will provide $16 billion in aid to keep farmers afloat as they reel from the yearlong trade war between the U.S. and China, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters in a briefing on Thursday.

The bulk of the aid, or about $14.5 billion, is direct aid to farmers, which producers will start to see some time this summer, Perdue said.

“While farmers themselves will tell you they’d rather than trade than aid, without the trade that has been possible, they’re going to need some support,” he said.

Perdue placed the blame for farmers’ economic losses on China, rather than the Trump administration’s own hard-line trade tactics.

“Frankly,” he said, “all of this would have been moot if China would have acted appropriately and fairly in many of the areas regarding intellectual property theft and non-tariff barriers that they have put up for many years.”

While the aid comes from a fund known as the Commodity Credit Corporation, a federal entity founded during the Depression devoted to stabilizing farm income and prices, Trump administration officials including Perdue have said China will pay for the aid to the farm sector.

When asked to explain that assertion, Perdue explained the president’s logic.

“The president feels very strongly that the tariff revenue is going to be used to support this program, which will come back out and replenish the CCC, as it does every year,” Perdue said. “While legally you can’t direct tariff payments into agriculture, that’s what the president feels like China is paying for this program.”

The plan also includes efforts to sell American products in more markets outside of China. Officials said about $100 million will be put toward market diversification.

Agriculture has been among sectors hit hardest by the U.S. trade conflict with China. The announcement of new relief to farmers comes as fears are rising over an economic slump in the agricultural economy.

Trump’s hard-line moves on trade with China have reduced U.S. income at a rate of around $1.4 billion a month, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Analysis by the New York Fed estimates the new tariffs will cost the average U.S. household $831 annually.

Last year, the Trump administration provided $12 billion in aid to farmers to try to offset their losses from the trade war.

The economic troubles have had multiplier effects in recent months. Some farmers across the Midwest are struggling with debt, prompting bankruptcy filings among farmers to rise sharply. A further blow for the country’s agricultural sector has come in the form of natural disasters. Floods have killed livestock and drowned hundreds of millions of dollars in crops.

Trump is expected address the nation’s farmers Thursday afternoon from the White House.