President Donald Trump this week is set to unveil his reciprocal tariffs on U.S trading partners, while on Capitol Hill Republicans try to show some progress on his key legislative priorities.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., and his Senate counterpart, John Boozman, R-Ark., are due to meet this week to discuss what could be included in a budget reconciliation bill Trump and GOP leaders want to pass this spring.
Trump says Wednesday is the “big one” for his next move on trade policy, but it’s unclear how broad the new reciprocal duties will be, based on recent messaging from the administration. The tariffs are supposed to vary depending on the size of the barriers the target country imposes on U.S. exports.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested earlier this month that the initial tranche of reciprocal duties could focus on just 15 trade partners with which the U.S. has persistent trade deficits – a so-called “dirty 15.” But Trump told reporters last week that this week’s tariff announcement would, in fact, cover every country.
The president is also set to announce Tuesday whether he will widen the scope of existing tariffs on Canada and Mexico. When he excluded products covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement from new 25% duties in early March – reduced to 10% on Canadian potash and energy products – he said he would reassess the scope of the duties ahead of Tuesday.
New, secondary tariffs on countries buying oil and gas from Venezuela could also be on the table, according to a Trump Truth Social post last week.
Whatever comes, some trade partners are already signaling they’re ready to respond.
On Friday, China’s state media reported that Beijing will impose swift countermeasures. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters earlier in the week that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to retaliation.
Others have suggested they’re in a more conciliatory mood. India scrapped a digital services tax last week that hit U.S. tech giants, and the UK is reportedly considering nixing its own DST as part of an economic deal. Senior representatives from both countries met with administration officials in recent weeks.
A UK official told Agri-Pulse after a meeting between Minister for Trade Jonathan Reynolds, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer earlier this month in Washington that “both sides are interested to make this work.”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that he’s open to a deal, if the U.S. “can get something” in return but added that it would probably come after the tariffs are announced.
Democrats are also looking to force Republicans to defend Trump’s tariffs against Canadian products in a vote on the Senate floor this week. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced a resolution challenging the economic emergency underpinning the tariffs. Such resolutions are subject to expedited procedures under existing law.
That resolution, which also has the support of at least one Senate Republican, could face a floor vote as soon as Tuesday, according to a Democratic staffer. And Democrats are quietly hopeful.
“There are a lot of free trade Republicans…. Some of them have been emphasizing publicly that they would like Trump's tariffs to be targeted and to be temporary,” the staffer said. “We'll see what happens.”
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley might be one to watch, for example. Grassley supported reigning in presidential tariff authorities during Trump’s first term and has appealed to Trump to exempt Canadian potash from recent duties.
The United Auto Workers has welcomed Trump’s tariffs on autos and trucks. “Tariffs are a tool in the toolbox to get these companies to do the right thing,” Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, told CBS’ Face the Nation.
But Fain said the new jobs created due to tariffs must be “good-paying union jobs,” and he raised concerns about Trump’s move to remove collective bargaining rights for federal employees.
Senate, House Rs remain far apart on reconciliation.
According to media reports. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told his GOP colleagues last week to be ready for a vote as soon as this week on a compromise budget resolution, the blueprint for what will ultimately be in the reconciliation bill.
Thompson and Boozman are both considering including some farm bill programs in the reconciliation bill because the legislation could provide the funding they need for raising commodity program reference prices and other priorities.
However, House and Senate Republicans have been far part on the spending cuts that would be required in a reconciliation measure, including from the Agriculture committees. The House resolution would require Thompson’s panel to cut at least $230 billion in spending over 10 years, while the minimum cut required by the Ag Committee in the Senate resolution is just $1 billion.
“I need to know where they're at number wise, so we figure out where overall we're going to be,” Thompson told Agri-Pulse. “The number drives everything.”
His committee’s ranking member, Angie Craig, D-Minn., warns that using the reconciliation bill to expand some farm programs “breaks up the bipartisan nature of a farm bill. … I think we can get a farm bill done under regular order issue, and that's certainly how I hope we do it.”
Craig said “there are lots of twists and turns to come here, and I'm just taking it one step at a time.”
House Ag member Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., said “there's a unanimous voice of very deep concern” among Democrats about deep cuts to SNAP.
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):
Monday, March 31
10 a.m. – American Enterprise Institute forum, “Highly Infectious Avian Flu and the Price of Eggs: Are There Pathways to a Solution?” 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW.
Noon – USDA releases the annual Prospective Plantings report and quarterly Grain Stocks report.
Tuesday, April 1
10 a.m. – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, and “improving children’s health,” 328A Russell.
Wednesday, April 2
10 a.m. – Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on surface transportation reauthorization with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, 406 Dirksen.
Thursday, April 3
9:30 a.m. – Brookings Institution webinar, “Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs: What Are They? How Will They Work?”
10:30 a.m. – Wilson Center webinar, “The North American Tariff Landscape.”
Friday, April 4
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
