The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced progress toward correcting the trade deficit to a trade surplus for agriculture and we had the opportunity to sit down with Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg to get more details.
Under Secretary Lindberg said, “We are excited to be announcing progress, right? So our goal is to get back to an agricultural trade surplus, which America has historically benefited from for a long, long time, including in President Trump’s first term in office. When we left, we had an agricultural trade surplus. And unfortunately, coming into this administration, we inherited a $50 billion forecasted agricultural trade deficit. So out with new numbers just today that are forecasting a $29 billion trade deficit for the upcoming fiscal year here. And that really represents, I mean, it’s a 43 percent drop since President Trump first came into office this time last year, which means we are creating a world in which our producers are able to sell more overseas, but also sell more here in America and face a much more level playing field.”
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.