Lobbyists for the U.S. agriculture industry have been pushing for tariff exemptions, delays and assurances that tariffs will be used to lower ag trade barriers in meetings with administration officials and congressional offices in recent weeks, as the Trump administration prepares to unveil sweeping new duties on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has dubbed April 2 “Liberation Day”, promising the largest trade actions of his presidency to date. The administration is expected to announce broad new duties on trade partners that set higher tariff rates than the U.S., as well as make a decision on whether to expand existing tariffs on Mexico and Canada and could impose new duties on specific sectors.
"Whatever they charge us, we charge them," Trump told reporters on Monday. But the president suggested the duties wouldn't quite match the rates foreign trading partners apply. "We're being nicer than they were."
But as officials have been deliberating over plans for April 2, agricultural industries have been fanning out across Washington to ensure their interests are represented in any discussions among White House insiders.
Matt Mika, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at AmericanHort, told Agri-Pulse on Monday that the group has been pushing for numerous exemptions from the tariffs applied to Mexico and Canada in meetings and correspondence with officials.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins earlier this month, the group appealed for carveouts for several critical agricultural inputs that cannot be sourced within the U.S. Sphagnum peat moss, for example, is imported from Canada’s peatlands for use in potting soil and growing media. U.S. growers also use imported cuttings of key plants and flower seed crops during the winter and summer months, when they face better growing conditions in Mexico and Canada.
The International Fresh Produce Association also wrote to senior administration officials, including Rollins, last week to appeal for an exemption for fresh produce from forthcoming tariffs – given the U.S. cannot grow these products year-round.
The president has repeatedly insisted that he doesn’t intend to undercut his tariff actions by granting exemptions. But Cory Harris, head of the agricultural practice at lobbying firm Vogel Group, said that the administration is far more likely to consider tariff exemptions for products that don’t directly compete with a U.S. producer.
“We're never going to grow our own bananas. We're never going to grow a lot of these other things,” Harris said, adding exemptions would “make sense” for those products.
But other lobbyists Agri-Pulse spoke to said that they had taken Trump at his word when he insisted there would be no carveouts – at least in the short term. They said that they had instead focused efforts on trying to shape the tariffs in other ways.
“We haven't been asking for exemptions,” said Becky Rasdall Vargas, senior vice president for trade at the International Dairy Foods Association. The U.S. automobile sector, Rasdall Vargas noted, had been pushing for exemptions to the Mexico and Canada tariffs and only seemed to secure a delay.
“We've tried to take that feedback,” she said. She has instead been pushing for a similar tariff delay for food and agricultural products, “just for the purposes of food security and making sure supply chains can continue.”
Rasdall Vargas said that she has also been pushing officials to ensure that the tariffs are used as a negotiating tool to secure more market access for U.S. agriculture products.
“We've been providing specific negotiating objectives regarding some of those markets,” Rasdall Vargas said.
Mika pointed out that AmericanHort president Ken Fisher would be in Washington this week to meet with administration officials. He said Fisher would raise the group’s tariff goals in conversations with officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Finding the right ears
With the president taking such a hands-on approach to trade policymaking and a tight-knit inner circle of advisers, multiple lobbyists told Agri-Pulse that it has been difficult finding the right people to speak to ensure their message reaches the upper echelons of White House policymakers.
“It's been tough because a lot of – I mean, most of – the decisions are being made at the White House,” one ag lobbyist granted anonymity to speak about private conversations told Agri-Pulse. Accordingly, they said, they had focused on securing meetings with officials at the National Economic Council and others in the Executive Office.
“They're talking,” the lobbyist said, but “they're being very, very judicious on who they meet with.”
The lobbyist noted that it had been much easier to secure meetings with industry clients who would benefit from tariffs – like domestic manufacturers.
“These are the voices that they want to listen to,” the ag lobbyist said.
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that White House aides were in intense deliberations over the scope and application of the new duties as recently as this weekend – with the president reportedly reviving his idea of a universal tariff as well as pushing officials to go bigger.
This top-down approach to trade policymaking has also complicated industries’ efforts plan lobbying efforts beyond Wednesday, because agency and department officials have limited insight into what’s coming down the pike.
“No one can give us an answer to anything,” Mika said.
The ag lobbyist agreed, arguing everything seems “up in the air,” including assistance to farmers.
“When we go and speak – yeah, they're supportive of the farmers,” the lobbyist said. She said officials pledge to do what they can to ensure any negative effects are minimized. “But again, it's hard to get any sort of real, tangible answers.”
In addition to providing clarity on tariffs, Mika argued that the administration should go into Wednesday’s tariff rollout with a clear plan on how to support farmers from any export losses triggered by the new tariffs. Rollins has said that the administration will stand up a program like the Market Facilitation Program set up in Trump’s first term to dole out financial assistance to farmers hurt by foreign retaliatory tariffs.
“Hopefully we get some type of guidance on Wednesday,” Mika said, to reassure farmers as they watch any widespread tariffs rollout.
Rollins, however, told reporters in Iowa on Monday that she won’t make a decision on what the support to farmers will look like until after any tariff announcement.
“It really depends on what April 2 looks like, what the President will be announcing,” Rollins said. But she added, “we're ready to go any which way.”
Whatever lands this week, the lobbyists are preparing to increase efforts once the plans come into focus.
“We'll definitely have to ramp up the lobbying after Wednesday,” the ag lobbyist said, once everyone knows “what we're up against.”
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
