Among Walt Disney World’s longest tenured rides is a simple boat ride with global consequences — It’s a Small World.

The ride consists of tiny animatronic dolls dancing, twirling and shaking in a myriad of costumes from around the globe.

Images of those tiny dancers and the slightly annoying theme song heard throughout the attraction came to mind this week over, of all things, new tariffs the United States is implementing.

First it was Canadian groundwood paper in January.

Then tariffs were slapped on steel and aluminum imports earlier in March.
Last week the feds announced plans to stick large tariffs on Chinese imports.

At first, it’s difficult to fathom how a tariff on global trade would affect anyone here in the Miss-Lou.

On the surface, it would seem we’re about as far away from a global crossroads of commerce as you can be. Heck, we’re 60 miles from an Interstate.

But if you scratch the surface, the tiny size of our world comes into better focus. Several industries could be hurt if the U.S. gets into a global trade war.

Among the biggest impacts locally may be the impact on soybean farmers in Concordia Parish.

Some global trade experts have suggested China could heavily curtail or stop entirely the amount of soybeans the country imports from the U.S. Reportedly China imports approximately one-third of all U.S. soybean production.

A move by China against importation of U.S. soybeans could be made as a retaliatory strike against America.

“We’re kind of in a world, global market,” said Cecil Parker, a Concordia Parish crop consultant and owner of Agriservices. “With the low prices we’re experiencing now, if it comes to fruition, it would be a big deal.
“It’s kind of coffee shop talk now,” he said. “It’s not like anybody is jumping up and down and calling their congressmen yet.”

Parker said he estimated between 50 and 60 percent of Concordia Parish’s farmland would likely be planted with soybeans this year.

If half of our area’s crop gets disrupted through a global trade war, the issue would cause some pain locally, at least until farmers could shift their plantings to another crop, hopefully one still in big demand.

The impact of this and all the other tariffs are only beginning to be felt across the country.

A local woman told me last week, “Maybe we should all go buy all the stuff we can from Walmart now before the prices go up,” meaning she knew much of it was made in China.

Will steel and aluminum prices make things like cars, trucks, four-wheelers, refrigerators, dryers cost more soon? Perhaps.

The tariffs on the groundwood Canadian paper will begin costing this newspaper and hundreds of others more each month because newsprint is included in that tariff.

While we purchase our newsprint from a Grenada, Miss., newsprint mill, the rise in commodity price for Canadian newsprint, has already begun sending our pricing higher and higher as well. That’s correct; The Natchez Democrat is being impacted by a global trade dispute with the Canadians. Other local businesses and consumers will likely also be impacted.

Perhaps the government’s tough stance is a tactic aimed at simply working a better deal for our country. I hope that’s the case and that good folks like America’s farmers and others who depend on a stable global economy don’t get hurt in the process.

It is, as the little dolls in Orlando, Fla., know so well, a small world after all.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.