Daybreak March 14: Trump targets European spirits

There’s a new twist in President Donald Trump’s trade wars. He is threatening to impose steep duties on wine and alcohol from the European Union if the bloc doesn’t drop its retaliatory tariff on U.S. whiskey. 

The EU responded to new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum by hiking the duty applied to U.S. whiskey. Trump hit back in a Truth Social post Thursday, calling the EU “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World.”

The president added that “the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS.”

The reaction: France’s trade minister, Laurent Saint-Martin, accused Trump of “escalating the trade war he chose to unleash” in a post to X. But he later added that the EU is open to finding solutions to deescalate. 

The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., which represents whiskey producers, is also calling for a swift resolution. “We want toasts, not tariffs,” CEO Chris Swonger said.

House Ag Committee Democrats wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday raising concerns over the administration’s tariff “whiplash.” They argued the back-and-forth has left farmers uncertain about future input prices. 

Take note: USDA is looking at a way to compensate farmers for Trump’s trade wars without waiting for Congress to replenish its borrowing authority under the Commodity Credit Corporation, a congressional source tells Agri-Pulse.

This source says the department is considering using its Section 32 authority. During the last trade war, USDA used its Section 5 authority under the CCC, but the agency would only have about $4 billion available unless Congress replenishes the account. 

Section 32 is typically used to purchase surplus commodities for feeding programs. But the law can also be used to “reestablish farmers’ purchasing power by making payments” to them.

McKinney: Give the administration time to create fair trade

Ted McKinney, CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, says it’s important to give Trump time to carry out his trade policy.

“We’re starting to perhaps feel the bumps,” McKinney says on Agri-Pulse Newsmakers this week.

Trump “is fulfilling what he said he would do, and so we’re just going to have to take our sedatives and buckle up a couple extra times and see how it goes.”

Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com.

Schumer backs stopgap

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer may have saved a House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government until Sept. 30 and avert a government shutdown.  

“I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country, to minimize the harms to the American people,” Schumer announced Thursday night. “Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down.” Republicans need eight Democrats to vote to pass the CR today.

Clarification on Thursday’s Daybreak: The House rule for the CR killed a process that was underway to require the Foreign Affairs Committee, and then possibly the full House, to vote on the president’s emergency tariff authority. The rule doesn't affect the Senate.

Senators want Canada dairy issues on the table in USMCA review

Some farm-state senators are calling on the Trump administration to use an upcoming review of a North American trade deal to address dairy market access issues with Canada. 

Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, say in a letter that Canada is not fulfilling its obligations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. 

The senators say Ottawa manipulates its import quota for U.S. dairy and has been exploiting a loophole to dump dairy protein in the U.S. market below market value. 

Take note: Trump has railed against the high out-of-quota tariffs Canada applies to U.S. dairy in recent days and suggested future tariff action. 

Makary one step closer to FDA commissioner

Martin Makary’s nomination to lead FDA was reported favorably out of committee Thursday with some bipartisan support. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced Makary’s nomination in a 14-9 vote. Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., joined Republicans in supporting Makary. 

Now, Makary just needs a full Senate confirmation vote to become FDA commissioner. 

Farmers, nonprofits sue over frozen funding

Farmers and environmental groups whose grant funding from Inflation Reduction Act programs has been frozen have filed suit against Trump, USDA and the Office of Management and Budget.

The plaintiffs, represented by Earthjustice lawyers, claim the freeze violates both the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers and the Administrative Procedure Act. They also say they face “the prospect of layoffs or furloughs, abandoning projects in which they have invested significant time and money, or being responsible for costs the government promised to cover."

Georgia passes pesticide liability bill

The Georgia Legislature has approved legislation limiting plaintiffs’ options to sue if companies fail to warn consumers of the dangers of pesticides. The bill now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp.

The bill, like others introduced in state legislatures, “ensures that any pesticide registered with the U.S. EPA — and sold under a label consistent with the EPA’s own determinations — is sufficient to satisfy state label warning requirements,” said the Modern Ag Alliance, which was started by Bayer and is backed by dozens of farm groups.

Some Minnesota senators ready to throw in the towel

Times are so tough in farm country that some Minesota producers are telling Sen. Tina Smith they might just stop.

“Input costs are up, farm income is down,” the Minnesota Democrat said at a Politico Live event Thursday in Washington. “And then you layer on top of that the uncertainty of all of these tariffs, and people are literally coming into my office and saying, ‘I don't think I can do this anymore, Tina.’”

Smith and fellow Democrat and Ag Committee ranking member Amy Klobuchar criticized U.S DOGE Service cuts of programs benefiting food banks and helping school districts buy locally produced food.

But, but, but: Sen. Deb. Fischer, R-Neb., who also spoke, said there is “tremendous support” in Nebraska’s ag sector for Trump’s tariff actions, which she said are intended to produce “fair markets” for farmers.

RIP: Raúl Grijalva

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a southern Arizona Democrat who once chaired the House Natural Resources Committee, died Thursday of complications from cancer treatments. He was 77. He was the son of a migrant farmworker.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Official photo)