Agri-Pulse Daybreak for January 12, 2017
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2017 - We’re down to one.
President-elect Donald Trump now has only one cabinet opening left, and that’s
Agriculture, after announcing his pick for Veterans Affairs yesterday. That
means that if he’s going to have an Hispanic in his cabinet it will have to be
his agriculture secretary.
At least two Latino groups, including the National
Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, are promoting former
California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado for the job.
Trump becomes president a week from tomorrow.
Bayer, Monsanto execs get Trump time. Monsanto CEO Hugh
Grant and Bayer CEO Werner Baumann went to Trump Tower yesterday to meet with
the president-elect. A joint statement from the companies said that the
executives had a “productive meeting” with Trump and shared their views on the
“future of the agricultural industry and its need for innovation.”
A spokesman declined to say whether the executives discuss
the companies’ pending merger, but the meeting looks like a proactive move on
the part of the CEOs.
Last week, Trump adviser and Iowa agribusiness leader Bruce
Rastetter called
on Trump to block some of the pending mergers in the seed and agrochemical
industry.
House to debate CFTC curbs. The House today will debate
a reauthorization bill for
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The legislation probably has little
future beyond the House because of Democratic opposition in the Senate. But
Republicans are using the first weeks of this session to highlight regulations
they want to roll back, and today’s debate will send some messages to the CFTC
about the priorities of GOP members.
The amendments that the House will consider include one by
House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway that says the agency shouldn’t impose
position limits until it issues a finding that they are needed to curb
excessive speculation. The agency believes that the Dodd-Frank law requires the
CFTC to issue a rule even without the finding.
The CFTC agreed unanimously last month to propose a reworked
position limits rule that was first released in 2013.
The bill would freeze CFTC’s budget at its current level,
$250 million, through fiscal 2021. That cap alone will guarantee Democratic
opposition.
House Ag takes shape. Southern states are maintaining a
strong hold on the House Agriculture Committee as the panel gears up to write a
new farm bill. Some 15 of the 26 Republicans on the committee will come from
the region that stretches from Texas and Oklahoma to Florida and
Virginia.
The
committee has six new Republicans, including Roger Marshall, the first
Kansan on the committee since the GOP leadership removed his predecessor, Tim
Huelskamp, in 2012.
Tillerson backs TPP but says needs improvement. Trump’s
nominee for secretary of state, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, reiterated
his support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership as he faced senators at his confirmation
hearing yesterday. But Tillerson also said he agrees with Trump
that the TPP could be improved. “I share some of his views regarding whether
the agreement that was negotiated serves all of America’s interests best,”
Tillerson said.
Tillerson also was asked about his position on the North
American Free-Trade Agreement and cited the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena
Nieto, as saying that the agreement was due for an update.
Tillerson criticized President Obama’s efforts to normalize
relations with Cuba, saying that Cuba failed to make concessions on human
rights. “We have not held them (Cuban leaders) accountable for their
conduct,” he said.
But Tillerson also said that trade is fundamentally good for
maintaining peace and U.S. influence other countries. “It allows us to project
American values into those countries we are trading with,” he said.
Much of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing
focused on Russia, the Middle East and Tillerson’s views on climate change.
Tillerson said he agreed with the scientific consensus that the climate is
changing and that human action is playing a role.
Key hearings set for next week. Several confirmation
hearings critical to agriculture are scheduled for next week: Interior nominee
Ryan Zinke will have his hearing on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, there will be hearings for Trump’s pick to run
the EPA, Scott Pruitt, and for Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross. Ross will be
leading Trump’s trade policy.
Trump reiterates border tax plan. In his
long-anticipated news conference yesterday in New York, Trump repeated his
threat to impose a “very large border tax” on companies that move jobs overseas
and import products back into the country.
Trump also said he planned to nominate someone for the
Supreme Court within the first two weeks of his presidency. Trump said he’s
working off the list he released during the campaign and has been consulting
closely with Jim DeMint, the president of the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative think tank.
NASDA, dairy industry appeal to Trump on Canada. With
Trump promising to renegotiate NAFTA, the National Association of State
Departments of Agriculture and dairy industry groups are asking the incoming
administration to address complaints that Canada is unfairly restricting U.S.
milk imports.
A letter sent
to Trump, key cabinet nominees and lawmakers says pricing policies followed by
Canadian provinces are displacing U.S. exports and costing thousands of U.S.
jobs.
“It is clear that these policies were implemented to
intentionally block imports from the United States and are therefore in direct
violation of Canada’s trade commitments under NAFTA and the World Trade
Organization,” the letter says.
They said it. “Do you lack the knowledge to answer my
question or are you refusing to answer my question?” “A little of both.” -
Question by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and response from Secretary of State nominee
Rex Tillerson.
#30
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