Governor Pritzker on Tuesday called on all state agencies to find 4% in budget cuts to sock away as reserves in this year's budget, blaming President Trump's "disastrous economic policies" for a possible financial downturn.

It's the latest sparring between the governor and president, who have been at each other's throats for weeks over the White House's immigration crackdown in Illinois and threats to send the National Guard to Chicago.

Now Pritzker is telling his department heads to review their spending plans to identify 4% in possible cuts to set aside as reserves, as several factors point to trouble for Illinois, with less money coming from Washington.

Among other economic uncertainties cited by the governor, Pritzker pointed to the disruption President Trump's tariffs have caused for Illinois farmers.

Four months ago, soybean farmer John Bartman said he feared his McHenry County farm was on the cusp of losing the Chinese market amid a heated trade war with China.

At the time, President Trump had walked back his 145% tariffs on products coming in from China, and China had walked back its 125% tariffs on U.S. products – such as the $2 billion of agriculture products Illinois farmers sell them each year, including all of Bartman's soybeans.

President Trump and China had agreed to suspend those tariffs until August amid ongoing discussions on trade, but Bartman noted that since then "absolutely nothing happened."

"That was the whole problem was that it was all bluster, and as a consequence, the prices have continued to drop," he said.

With the trade deal unfinished, an uncertain future looms for Bartman and other Illinois farmers.

"We have a glut of soybeans right now," Bartman said. "Unfortunately, China was one of our major export markets, and they haven't bought a single soybean at all, which is the first time in nearly 30 years," he said.

Beyond agriculture, Pritzker pointed to federal Medicaid cuts, a jump in unemployment, and reductions in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits commonly known as food stamps as pressure points the state needs to prepare for.

It's his rationale for Tuesday's executive order telling Illinois departments to find ways to sock away 4% in their budgets by starting immediate budget reviews, finding efficiencies and reductions, limiting travel, making only essential hires, and reinventing programs to save money.

Illinois Republicans criticized the governor's executive order.

"This is, in my opinion, just another attempt to poke the Trump bear," Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie said.

McCombie said the SNAP program in Illinois is mismanaged. costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. She said she fears Pritzker will turn to tax increases – from package deliveries to a higher service tax.

"It is not what we should be doing right now is getting ready to blame the federal government. This didn't happen overnight, and this is on the Democrats, not the Republicans in the administration," she said.

The governor said there are hundreds of millions of dollars that will have to be made up for as a result of the cuts the federal government is making to health care and nutritional assistance, saying his team is looking for every nook and cranny in the state budget.

Republicans said it's a mess the governor's team made for themselves.