A shoo-in to become Agriculture secretary for President Trump, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue says he will be “USDA’s chief salesman around the world.” Farm-state senators say the sales work should include the Trump team, which has threatened to disrupt relations with major customers for U.S. farm exports.
During a confirmation hearing for Perdue, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts grumbled that there “may be too many cooks in the kitchen” in the administration on trade policy, and asked Perdue, “How can we make sure agriculture is a top, and I mean top, priority?”
Exports generate 20 percent of farm income and farm groups openly worry they will be an early casualty if trade talks blow up, so questions about trade carry two meanings. The administration plans to re-negotiate NAFTA, for example. Canada is the second-largest and Mexico the third-largest market for U.S. ag exports. One of Trump’s first actions in office was to abandon the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which was supposed to bring greater U.S. access to Japan’s food market.
Perdue said he would build relationships with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Robert Lighthizer, the nominee for U.S. trade representative, and show them the advantage of farm exports. “Food is a noble thing to trade,” he said at one point and at another assured Arkansas Sen. John Boozman that he would work with Ross and Lighthizer “to put agriculture first.”
“I really think trade is the answer,” Perdue said, after pointing to a slump in commodity prices that began in 2013 and the 31-percent crop in cash farm income. “I look forward to be an adviser and counsel to this administration.”
“I plan to be on-site as USDA’s chief salesman around the world to sell these products, to negotiate these deals side by side with USTR, side by side with Secretary Ross,” Perdue said later when Montana Sen. Steve Daines asked how to keep markets open to U.S. farm products. “I believe USDA will be intimately involved (in negotiations and) in selling our products.”
Perdue is popular among farm groups and arguably the least polarizing of Trump’s cabinet nominees. Complaints of ethical lapses during his two terms as governor have drawn little attention. A transition official said the comparatively short — two-and-a-half hours — and congenial hearing showed a bipartisan consensus that Perdue was a strong candidate.
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow said she would submit questions in writing to Perdue about past conflicts of interest and statements skeptical of climate change. “My feeling is he’s answered the questions. He’s resolved the conflicts of interests,” said Stabenow when reporters asked the topics were not raised during the hearing.
Roberts said he would schedule a committee vote as soon as possible on Perdue, which would then go to the full Senate for a final vote. “This has been a very good hearing,” he said. Roberts said he would allow several days for Perdue to answer written questions and for the committee to compile material related to the nomination. A Senate vote is possible but not certain before the chamber begins a two-week recess on April 8.
The National Farmers Union urged a speedy Senate confirmation, saying it was encouraged by Perdue’s emphasis on trade. “Ensuring the administration goes about trade deal renegotiations in a way that both deals with our country’s overall trade deficit and does not adversely affect agriculture’s strong footing in international trade will be very important,” said the NFU.
Perdue put farm income at the top of his priorities for action if confirmed, saying he would maximize the ability of producers to “sell the food and fiber that feed and clothe the world. We want to remove every obstacle and give them every opportunity to prosper.”
Perdue also said he would advocate immigration reform, particularly a change in the guest-worker program, now limited to seasonal workers, to benefit dairy farmers, who milk cows every day. Half or more of U.S. farmworkers are undocumented, according to estimates, and Trump’s policy of strict enforcement of immigration law has created anxiety throughout agriculture, and a sense of urgency to find a stable and legal workforce.
When Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy argued that dairy farmers, like sheep farmers, should be allowed year-round visas for guestworkers, Perdue said, “There is a need, obviously … I believe dairy qualifies for that as well.”
At the start of the hearing, Stabenow cited the Jan. 19 announcement of Perdue for USDA — the longest search for an agriculture secretary since 1933 and Trump’s final cabinet selection — and the administration’s proposal to cut discretionary spending at USDA by 21 percent as signs that “rural America has been an after-thought” for Trump.
“I think the president must have saved the best for last,” said Perdue mildly when it was his turn to speak.
To read Perdue’s written testimony or to watch a video of his nomination hearing, click here.