GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is attacking former President Donald Trump’s trade policy as she tries to slow down his momentum.
“This the man who wants to go and put 10% tariffs across the board, raising taxes on every single American. Think about that for a second,” Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration, said in an interview with CNBC on Monday. Trump has proposed imposing a “baseline” tariff on all imported goods. He hasn’t talked about the plan's details but has offered 10% as the possible size of the tariff.
In a post on X, Haley claimed a 10% tariff could cost families “an average of $2,600 a year.
They’re already paying skyrocketing prices thanks to Biden and Trump’s inflation. We can’t afford this.”
Doud: Political calculus has changed for ag on trade
Gregg Doud, who served as chief agricultural trade negotiator during the Trump administration, says U.S. agriculture is facing a different political dynamic on trade policy than it used to.
For many years, ag groups pushed administrations to negotiate lower tariffs and trade barriers for farm commodities in exchange for increased access to the U.S. market for non-ag products, Doud said during a trade policy discussion at the American Enterprise Institute on Monday.
But now, “part of this problem is other parts of the U.S. economy are like, ‘We're done giving. We’re not interested in giving as much anymore.’ And I think that makes it more difficult for U.S. agriculture to get what it wants in the international trade arena,” Doud said.
Another trade war coming? Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, who led the U.S. Trade Representative’s ag affairs office from 2011 to 2020, said some commodities have never fully recovered from Trump’s trade war with China. She said both Trump’s plan as well as a House committee’s recent recommendations for taking action against China over trade could “really be a danger to American agriculture.”
USDA readies $65M with goal of reducing specialty crop export barriers
The Agriculture Department is planning to use $65 million in Regional Agricultural Promotion Program funds on projects to remove specialty crop export barriers.
The Assisting Specialty Crop Exports Initiative rolled out Monday will help collect export certification and packaging data needed by other countries and “support projects that advance U.S. specialty crop exports by expanding domestic understanding of foreign food safety systems and foreign understanding of U.S. food safety systems.”
Three program “workstreams” include “commodity-specific trade and regulatory capacity building; plastics and packaging solutions; and funding of a maximum residue limits (MRL) database,” USDA said in its release.
House Energy and Commerce to hold hearing on Snake River dams
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing today on the Biden Administration's $1 billion plan aimed at reversing salmon declines in the Columbia and Snake River systems.
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Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory is set to appear at the 10 a.m. hearing alongside officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Energy Department and the Bonneville Power Administration.
Other witnesses include National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson, Washington Grain Commission CEO Casey Chumrau, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association executive director Neil Maunu, and Yakama Nation Tribal Councilmember Jeremy Takala.
Take note: The White House’s proposal would fund fish restoration efforts and tribal clean energy projects, implement changes to federal hydropower operations, and look at how to offset the transportation, recreation, and irrigation impacts resulting from the potential removal of four dams on the lower Snake River. The administration, however, emphasized in a fact sheet it was not “making a judgment” on dam breaching, which would require congressional authorization.
FDA OKs chromium propionate for turkey feed
The Food and Drug Administration has concluded that approving chromium propionate as a source of chromium in turkey feed will not result in any significant environmental impacts. The agency issued an environmental assessment in response to a food additive petition filed by Kemin Industries.
This action is in response to a food additive petition filed by Kemin Industries, Inc. The company received approval for use in broiler chickens in 2016 and horses in 2020.
The decision was announced in a Federal Register notice published today.
AAFCO committee backs hemp meal for feed use
A key panel of the Association of American Feed Control Officials has tentatively approved the use of hemp seed meal for laying hens.
The Hemp Feed Coalition called it a “monumental milestone on the path to federal approval” but also noted that the Ingredient Definition Committee’s action last week still has to go before AAFCO’s board and members.
AAFCO Executive Director Austin Therrell said in an email that “within the AAFCO process it will still need to be approved by the AAFCO Board of Directors and then again by the general AAFCO membership during our next business session before it can legally be distributed as an approved feed ingredient in the U.S.”
“If all goes well it will be on the agenda for a membership vote in August at our annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas,” Therrell said.
She said it: "Having the option to conduct business online is essential, and the Pay My Loan feature allows customers to take care of business seamlessly. The online payment feature is just one of many ways the Farm Service Agency is modernizing its Farm Loan Programs and enhancing the customer experience for this incredibly hardworking group.” – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, announcing that “most farm loan borrowers will be able to make payments to their direct loans online” next month.
