WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD-TV) — Trade will be front and center for lawmakers this week as the clock winds down on their remaining time in Washington this year. Also on deck this week is an aid package for farmers and ranchers, which Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said could be announced at any time.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is hosting a three-day listening session on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade pact, which is set for review next summer. That gathering will take place this week from Wednesday through Friday. During an online public comment period over the last several weeks, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office received more than 1,500 responses, including those from more than 100 ag groups urging the pact’s renewal.
Several ag lawmakers have pushed the Trump Administration to move quickly on aid, but Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, told RFD-TV News that any amount is likely not enough.
“It’s something that Congress has certainly been paying attention to, [but in] conversations with USDA, I doubt that these payments are sufficient,” Sen. Moran said. “I really think, in my time and as an elected official, these are the most challenging times for Kansas farmers that I’ve seen. And it’s due to the fact that while times are often difficult in agriculture, it’s been a number of years since we’ve had a good year. We’ve had drought in many places, including my state. And farmers are just not financially prepared for the challenges that are out there today.”
Groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) have also pushed for additional support. Dr. John Newton, AFBF’s Vice President of Public Policy and Economic Analysis, told RFD-TV News that farmers need a bridge payment soon, noting it could be next October before any relief arrives from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OBBBA).
“That $12 billion that USDA might roll out the door over the next few weeks is only a small share of the losses — over $50 billion in economic losses that crop farmers have seen over the last three years combined,” he said. “Again, it’s a tough economic environment. We need bridge economic assistance from the department, and we need it in a hurry.”
Secretary Rollins said details of an aid package will be released sometime this week.
Aside from aid, Sen. Moran is closely watching China. Several cargoes of soybeans have left U.S. ports in recent days, but he said it is essential to drive home just how vital those sales will be to farmers across his state and beyond.
“They are the market, and without their purchases, there’s just a real struggle in rural Kansas, in rural America, in agriculture,” Moran said. “So, there is good news. I just saw you reporting that we see the movement of ships. That’s exciting. That’s hopeful. But we actually need to see the results. And, if this takes place, then we need to make certain that this trade agreement, which the President has preliminarily negotiated with China, has the details filled in. And then we need to hold China accountable for what they agreed to have done.”
Moran said it will be nearly impossible to fully replace China with other international buyers. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently told reporters that all efforts are being made to expand market access, but warns the Administration also needs to keep trying to make it work with China.
“The soybean producers and their trade associations have worked really hard to make sales in other parts of the world, and they’ve been fairly successful at it,” Sen. Grassley said. “So those two things: China and what the soybean people are doing to broaden the markets for soybeans elsewhere than China, are pretty good news for soybeans.”
Sen. Grassley told reporters he has heard from farmers losing as much as $1.50 per bushel on some of their crops. For soybeans, he warns, it could be even more. He is encouraging the Trump Administration to continue pushing China while also seeking additional market access.
However, Trump Administration officials are still working to make that a reality as the ink dries on several new international trade agreements.
Shaun Haney, host of RealAg Radio on Rural Radio SiriusXM Channel 147, caught up with Deputy USDA Secretary Stephen Vaden. He told Haney that the White House has recently entered into several new trade deals that could impact the type of aid released.
“[Trade deals] not just with China -- although that’s the biggest one -- but Southeast Asia, South Asia, even countries like Uzbekistan, and more recently in Central and South America,” Vaden said. “And we’ve got to take into account that new data and that new demand that will be coming in across a host of agricultural commodities as we look to what type of assistance will be needed.”
Vaden said USDA wanted to finalize an aid package sooner, but the shutdown delayed those plans.
