Donald Trump

Trump says it’s hard to bring down prices

President-elect Donald Trump, who recently told an interviewer, “I won on groceries,” said in a Time magazine transcript released on Thursday, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.” Meanwhile, a Purdue University poll found that consumers have lowered their expectations for food inflation.

‘Tariff man’ Trump picks trade hawk to run USTR

President-elect Donald Trump, who declared, "I am a tariff man," in 2018, selected Jamieson Greer, an important figure in the Sino-U.S. trade war, to serve as U.S. trade representative (USTR) in his second term. Trump announced the choice during a string of days in which he threatened high import duties on a dozen countries, including Canada, Mexico, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.

Trump chooses former White House adviser to become Agriculture secretary

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Brooke Rollins, director of his Domestic Policy Council during his first term, for Agriculture secretary, saying she would "spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country." Rollins is chief executive of a think tank that has advocated stronger work requirements for SNAP recipients. She would be the second woman to lead USDA.

Rural landslide is part of ‘historic realignment’ in Trump victory

President Trump rolled up 63 percent of the vote in rural America, a larger margin than in 2016, on the way to winning a second term in the White House on Tuesday. Farm groups offered to work with him on Wednesday to pass the new farm bill, now 14 months overdue, and to bring high costs under control.

Miller, Tom, and McKinney mentioned for Trump USDA posts

Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, former ambassador Kip Tom, and Ted McKinney, a onetime USDA undersecretary, were among a handful of men viewed as potential nominees to run the Department of Agriculture when Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.

Kennedy’s talk of ‘When I get inside’ USDA stirs ag unease

Former president Donald Trump says American agriculture "is built on science, technology, and innovation," but a prominent supporter says the country needs the opposite — fewer pesticides and feedlots. "When Donald Trump gets me inside the building I'm standing in front of right now, it won't be this way anymore," said Robert Kennedy Jr. in a video filmed outside of the Agriculture Department headquarters in Washington. (No paywall)

Trump says Democrats will take away your hamburgers. He’s the one who might.

In FERN's latest story, published with The New York Times, reporter Ted Genoways explains how Donald Trump's vow to deport millions of immigrants if he is re-elected would decimate the meatpacking industry's workforce.

Trump reminds farmers of trade war aid; Harris would fix ag labor shortages

Former president Donald Trump said in a questionnaire released on Thursday that he would use “every tool at my disposal,” including tariffs, to expand U.S. food and ag exports if he is re-elected. Vice President Kamala Harris would not tolerate unfair trade practices from China or other competitors, said senior aides to the Democratic nominee.

Harris: ‘I will go after the bad actors’ who unfairly drive up food prices

At the same time that she pledged "the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food," Vice President Kamala Harris said she would help the food industry become more competitive. "As president, I will take on the high costs that matter to most Americans, like the cost of food," she said during a speech in North Carolina.

Project 2025 plan for USDA: Repeal crop subsidies, move SNAP to HHS

In a second term as president, Donald Trump would seek repeal of crop subsidy and export promotion programs, make farmers pay more for crop insurance, and move all of USDA's public nutrition programs, including SNAP and school lunch, to the Department of Health and Human Services if he follows the advice of Project 2025, written by conservatives.

Playing corn ethanol as Trump card in Iowa

Former president Donald Trump, ignoring his own mixed record on biofuels, said at a rally in western Iowa that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his most viable challenger for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, "totally despises Iowa ethanol and ethanol generally."

Meatpackers drafted Trump order on meat plants during Covid-19

Facing pressure from local health officials over conditions in their plants, meatpacking companies "drafted and pitched an executive order to the Trump White House" to keep slaughterhouses open during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, said a congressional staff report on Thursday. When President Trump issued an order that adopted the industry position, meatpackers exaggerated its scope.

‘You have a partner in the White House,’ Biden tells farmers

In a video message to a sector that overwhelmingly voted against him, President Biden told farmers on Monday, "you have a partner in the White House" who is pursuing agricultural prosperity and fair prices in the marketplace. Biden, who has assailed meatpackers for high profits during the pandemic, pointed to a proposed $1 billion to expand slaughter capacity and efforts to keep ag exports moving despite port congestion.

Trump trade war had ‘winners and losers’

When Trump appointees at the USDA parceled out trade war assistance to farmers, they exaggerated the damage in 2019 and over-compensated corn and wheat growers, said a congressional agency on Monday. "This report confirms that the Trump USDA picked winners and losers in their trade programs and left everyone else behind," said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat.

Fear of reprisal kept immigrants from accessing federal aid in pandemic

Fear, fueled by the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, kept many low-income immigrant families from accessing non-cash benefits and other federal assistance programs they were eligible for in 2020, even as the pandemic deepened economic hardship, according to two new analyses released today from the Urban Institute.(No paywall)

Trump-backed legal group sues for debt relief for white farmers

With Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller as the plaintiff, a Trump-aligned legal group on Tuesday challenged the $4 billion debt-relief plan approved by Congress for Black and minority farmers, saying it was unconstitutional. "Americans of all races and ethnicities must have the opportunity to receive" USDA loan forgiveness, said America First Legal Foundation in announcing the suit. No paywall

After refusing to overturn election, five House ag panelists oppose impeachment

Although they defied President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, five Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee voted on Wednesday against impeaching Trump for inciting the deadly mob attack on the Capitol last week. They said that impeachment was divisive and hasty, while the new Agriculture chairman, Georgia Democrat David Scott, said speedy action was needed.

Perdue demurs at cabinet sideline of Trump

While the top Democrats in Congress threatened to impeach President Trump for the second time, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Thursday that he was not part of any discussions among cabinet members to sideline Trump by declaring him unfit to do his job. "Nor do I expect to have any" part in such talk, said Perdue during a trip to Georgia.

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