GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance is defending former President Donald Trump’s threat to increase tariffs, suggesting they’ll create economic growth that would offset any negative impacts on consumers.
Trump has called for imposing across-the-board tariffs on imported products and increasing tariffs substantially on Chinese exports. Vice President Kamala Harris charged in her acceptance speech last week that Trump’s plan could cost middle-class families as much as $4,000 each. The Peterson Institute for International Economics puts the impact much lower, estimating the typical American household could lose $2,600 a year under Trump’s plan
Vance, speaking on NBC News’ Face the Nation, said he expects Trump to raise tariffs. “He used tariffs to bring manufacturing jobs back to our country, and I think he'll do it again. And he did it while keeping prices extremely low,” Vance said.
Vance argued that tariffs ultimately benefit consumers. “So, what some economists will say is … that it will actually raise costs for consumers. But what other people say, and I think the record supports this other view, is that it causes this dynamic effect where more jobs come into the country. Anything that you lose on the tariff from the perspective of the consumer, you gain in higher wages, so you're ultimately much better off.”
Keep in mind: The Tax Foundation has estimated that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and maintained under President Joe Biden will cut long-run GDP by 0.2% and reduce employment by 142,000 jobs.
RFK Jr. suspends campaign, endorses Trump, blasts food and ag
Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggests he might have a chance to reform food and agriculture policy if Donald Trump wins the presidency. Trump appeared to offer Kennedy a role in his administration in a phone call last month.
Take note: Kennedy used Friday’s announcement to go into an extended attack on the food industry and agriculture, and he said that having the chance to attack the “chronic disease crisis” that he links to foods and pharmaceuticals is the reason he decided to back Trump.
Kennedy singled out for criticism products such as “ultra-processed foods” and “seed oils,” and he attacked the use of pesticides and food additives he claims “permeate every cell of our bodies.”
Kennedy asserted that “the FDA, the USDA, CDC, all of them are controlled by giant for-profit corporations.” And then Kennedy went on to declare, “We’re going to bring healthy food back to school lunches. We’re going to stop subsidizing the worst foods with our agricultural subsidies. We’re going to get toxic chemicals out of our food. We’re going to reform the entire food system.”
Kennedy also seemed to suggest he had received some commitment from Trump: “If President Trump is elected and honors his word, the vast burden of chronic disease that now demoralizes and bankrupts the country will disappear.”
Keep in mind: Trump has given no indication he would try to reform farm subsidies or the school lunch program, and there’s virtually no chance a Republican Congress would go along with that. It’s also unlikely RFK Jr. could get confirmed by the Senate for any significant job, regardless of which party is in control of the chamber.
Canadian government orders rail service to resume, quelling strike threat
Trains are supposed to begin moving across all Canadian tracks today after an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which is in charge of arbitrating a contract dispute between two railroad carriers and a union representing nearly 10,000 of their workers.
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Canadian Pacific Kansas City was due to resume operations at midnight. Workers who had already returned to their work at Canadian National on Friday had threatened to strike today, but now will not be able to under CIRB's order.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, a union representing the workers, said it was "extremely disappointed" in CIRB's decision. "Rest assured, we will be challenging these rulings in court," Teamsters Canada Rail Conference president Paul Boucher wrote in a message to members Saturday.
USDA responds to shortages in tribal, senior food assistance programs
USDA is reviewing its procurement process in the wake of food shortages facing tribal and senior assistance programs, according to an agency spokesperson.
On Friday, the agency received letters from the House Agriculture Committee and a bipartisan group of senators pushing USDA to resolve shortages in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
Participants in these programs, who are low-income and ineligible for other federal feeding programs, have faced food delays and shortages since May. The issues with FDPIR have been traced back specifically to USDA’s decision to consolidate distribution to one warehouse provider.
In its letter, the House Agriculture Committee pressed USDA for answers on why it consolidated providers and on the agency’s response to the shortages.
“We recognize the impact these delays are having on the daily lives of FDPIR and CSFP participants,” said a USDA spokesperson in a statement. “We are deeply committed to finding solutions for the immediate term while addressing underlying issues to restore a fully functional and dependable regular distribution system.”
USDA names recipients for specialty crop grant programs
USDA has selected 65 recipients for $82.3 million to boost competitiveness in the specialty crop industry and ensure access to these products for consumers through 2018 farm bill-funded programs.
Under the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, $72.9 million will go to 54 states and territories to support growers in marketing, education and research. These projects could focus on food safety, conservation research and developing new seed varieties.
An additional $9.4 million will go to 11 projects through the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program. These grants support collaborative partnerships to improve the competitiveness of specialty crops.
Final word: “This is going to be a long, painful process, I'm afraid. There's no way around it as long as the Endangered Species Act is constructed the way it is and enforced the way it is.” – Dave Puglia, president and CEO of the Western Growers Association, speaking on Agri-Pulse Open Mic about the EPA’s new herbicide strategy for protecting endangered species. He said EPA was trying to stay ahead of litigation.
