Wall Street is panicking this week because of the international trade war — specifically the tariffs being placed upon goods arriving from China.

From Main Street USA, we shake our heads and utter a big, “so, what else is new?”

We’re amazed at the screen crawlers on the cable channels announcing the stock market’s sharp response to these tariffs, which will be paid by American consumers when they buy cars, clothes, cell phones, computers and a plethora of other products.

Surely, Kansas farmers must be frowning at this big-time response because they, and other small businesses, have been feeling the tariff damage for more than a year.

That’s why your newspaper subscriptions soared upward last year as tariffs on newsprint and aluminum (printing plates) caused 40 percent hikes in printing bills.

It’s why farmers are pulling their soybeans out of storage and sending them to the southern coast where they are creating the largest glut in bean storage ever seen. And, why? Because China no longer buys American soybeans, preferring to buy grain from South American countries where no tariffs exist.

The sad thing is that commenting on this issue is political suicide for many elected lawmakers, even those in farm states. Fingers are pointed and lines are drawn, which is unfortunate. Who you voted for in the last election has nothing to do with where you will sell your grain; where printers will buy newsprint and printing plates; or whose steel will go into the making of American cars.

But for national politicians to skirmish over this week’s plunge in the stock market, after paying out $12 billion to prop up the soybean market last year, is silliness. That action was needed — and it worked — to keep bean prices at marketable levels, but it can’t continue year after year.

The answer is for American leaders to cease their trade war games, whether with China, Mexico, Canada or any other nation, unless there are reasons related to international security.

So far, the tariffs have mostly comprised huffing and puffing, benefitting nobody and hurting many.

The real problem is that the United States of America largely got out of the manufacturing business 20 years ago, and we’re now paying the price.

But farmers and small businesses in rural America kept their pace in production during those years, and now they are pawns of those in high positions who think applying tariffs to imports will somehow be paid by other countries.

Make no mistake about it: You are footing the bill for this nonsense. Letting your elected officials know about their blind and mute responses might be a place to start.

Tell them Wall Street isn’t a tall priority in rural Kansas. Farming, ranching, oil production and Main Street commerce is how we feed our families.

But hurry. This nation is suffocating from our poor memories and economic incapacity.

Rudy Taylor is the publisher of the Montgomery County Chronicle.