Montana

Montana's vast, sparsely populated landscape produces agricultural exports — wheat, cattle, lentils, and barley — that punch well above the state's small population in trade significance. Montana is a top-5 wheat state, and its hard red spring wheat is prized for bread flour worldwide; retaliatory tariffs from Asian markets reduce prices received by Montana grain farmers across millions of acres. The state's cattle ranchers, who graze herds on 60 million acres of rangeland, face retaliatory tariffs from Japan and China on premium beef cuts. Montana has become America's #1 organic lentil producer, and specialty pulse crops face retaliatory tariffs in India and other markets. The state's mining sector — copper, gold, platinum, palladium from the Stillwater Mine (the only US palladium source) — benefits from some tariffs on competing imports but faces higher costs on mining equipment. Montana's 545-mile border with Canada makes cross-border trade disruption personal: many Montana communities depend on Canadian customers and cross-border commerce. Oil production in the Bakken formation (eastern Montana) adds to exports but faces less direct tariff exposure.