| BURGEONING TRADE WAR: President-elect Donald Trump’s trade threats continue to grow. Over the weekend, he vowed a 100 percent tariff on developing countries that use the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency should they try to drop it. “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, referring to the acronym for the original group of countries in the bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The geopolitical alliance has since expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Context: Officials from the BRICS countries have discussed moving away from the U.S. dollar in recent years including at the 2024 BRICS Summit. The concept gained steam in 2022 when the U.S. imposed massive economic sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, reports our Ari Hawkins. Trump’s vows to slap new tariffs on U.S. trading partners on Day One has sent ripple effects through the U.S. agricultural industry, which relies on exports to boost profits for vital commodity crops like soy and corn. Ag impact: Kip Tom, former ambassador to the United Nations agencies for food and agriculture in Trump’s first term, added that Trump will fix the ag-trade deficit. “The BRICS are much further along in their strategy to crater US economic strength under Biden-Harris,” he wrote on X. “We have taken notice and will now take action!” The ag-trade deficit, which measures the value of U.S. food exports compared to value of its food imports, has ballooned in recent years, topping $45 billion in the latest USDA 2025 forecast. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack defended his department’s work, noting that exports of agriculture products for fiscal year 2025 are expected to increase $500 million from the previous forecast in August. “Today’s forecast also shines light on the health of the American economy,” said Vilsack in a statement. “A strong dollar and economy are evidenced by U.S. consumers’ demand for imports of high-value products such as spirits and coffee. The U.S.’s agricultural export numbers should remain strong unless retaliatory tariffs result in steep declines.” RFK: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent weeks lobbying Donald Trump to nominate an Agriculture secretary who would be his ally in a war with the sugar, soybean, corn and other farm commodity interests he argues are poisoning Americans, write Meredith and Adam Cancryn. Working largely from his home in California, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services even meticulously vetted and put forward his own list of candidates to run the massive agency responsible for the country’s farm and food policy, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Rollins: Trump’s choice of Brooke Rollins, who co-founded the Trump-aligned think tank America First Policy Institute, to lead the Agriculture Department represents something of a victory for the entrenched agriculture interests that view Kennedy as a foe. If confirmed, Rollins will have massive influence to shape agriculture policy and farm subsidies that serve as the foundation of the U.S. food system, which Kennedy is eager to overhaul. He’s openly promised to go to war with large agriculture interests he argues are at the root of Americans’ twin obesity and chronic health crises. But those fights lie within USDA, which oversees a $430 billion-plus yearly budget and 100,000 employees, touching nearly every part of the country’s $1.5 trillion food and agriculture industry. Not HHS. Related: Former RFK Jr. staffers are questioning whether he’s up to running HHS.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment