USDA

“It is laughable that the United States continues to recognize their inspection system as being equivalent.”

The National Economic Council told food and agricultural groups on March 15 that reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement and forging a bilateral deal with Japan are its top two trade negotiating objectives, according to a participant in the White House meeting.

Arkansas Republican Rep. Rick Crawford expressed confidence this week that his bill to allow U.S. agriculture exporters to extend credit to Cuban buyers is gaining support in Congress, but where President Trump and the White House stand on the idea – and Cuba policy in general – remains largely unclear.

“Trade policies that grow American manufacturing jobs have my full support, but they can't come at the expense of agriculture jobs.”

Negotiations to redo agreements suspending U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties on Mexican sugar have paused due to turnover in the U.S. Agriculture and Commerce departments, but a former USDA undersecretary is optimistic that a deal can be struck once the Trump administration’s team is in place and brought up to speed.

“SUA believes that USTR must retain its historic leadership role in trade policy, and that a strong and knowledgeable leader is indispensable.”

State secretaries of agriculture blasted Mexico and Canada over a series of trade barriers, including moves by Canadian provinces to adopt dairy ingredient strategies and treat imported wine differently than domestically produced wine.

President-elect Trump has selected former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) to serve as agriculture secretary, rounding out his cabinet picks just a day before his inauguration.

The conservative group of lawmakers has issued recommendations for the Trump administration's first 100 days.