ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins visited Georgia on Wednesday to meet with Georgia agricultural leaders, lawmakers and farmers.

Her visit comes as the White House implements new tariffs and some farmers are bracing for the potential impact.

She told reporters afterwards they had a roundtable discussion on what the state’s farmers and ranchers need and said she will visit with farmers and tour facilities throughout the day.

“This community has been very patient, but they are hurting and we understand that,” she said.

In the last weeks, President Donald Trump has introduced tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada, China and beyond.

In response, China’s retaliatory tariffs went into effect Monday, adding an extra 15% duty on chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. The European Union announced retaliatory Wednesday morning, as well.

Some farmers, including here in Georgia, have said they are worried about what this will mean for their livelihood.

On the steps of the Georgia Capitol, Rollins pointed to tariffs implemented in President Trump’s first term, where his administration doled out close to $30 billion to farmers from the Commodity Credit Corporation within the USDA.

“Obviously, there were some consequences for our agricultural community in that first term, and the USDA, with the great Sonny Perdue, stepped up and worked to make those consequences whole,” Rollins said. “I would suspect if the same results occur again this time around, that there will be the same relief there; we’re working on preparing for that.”

Rollins' appearance at the state capitol also comes just a day after she announced that egg prices have dropped nearly two dollars nationwide.

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