U.S. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs

Good morning. The Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, uh, Food and Drug Administration and related agencies will come to order. I wanna welcome everyone to this oversight hearing with USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. We're pleased to be joined by the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, Luke Lindberg. Mister Lindberg, welcome to the subcommittee. I look forward to hearing about your priorities for the coming year. and the work that USDA is doing to promote trade and open new markets for US commodities. With nearly one hundred overseas offices covering more than a hundred and eighty countries, the Foreign Agricultural Service acts as the voice for American agriculture on the world stage. You provide the on-ground support to US agricultural interests, identify and open new markets for American products, help negotiate trade deals, analyze market conditions, cut through red tape to reduce barriers to exports, and navigate international standards on behalf of our farmers. In a time when our nation's producers are still suffering from the misguided policies of the last administration, facing high record input costs and unprecedented pressures from labor shortages, severe weather, pests and disease, what you do is more important than ever. Your agency's work is a critical and often overlooked piece of America's farm economy. As UN Secretary Ra- Rollins seek to reduce the nearly billion dollar biden era agricultural trade deficit i applaud your work in setting an america first trade policy and working aggressively to expand market access and enhance the global competitiveness of american products already you've launched the america first trade promotion program expanded financing options under the export credit guarantee program and negotiated historic trade deals and you were only confirmed six months ago As the subcommittee that champions American agriculture and our nation's farmers, I think we're all looking forward to hearing what comes next. In addition to trade opportunities, I'd like an update on the inter-agency agreement moving administration of the Food for Peace program to USDA. As the experts in commodity procurement, and given USDA's successful implementation of the Food for Progress and McGovern-Dole Food for Education programs it makes sense that Food for Peace should also be implemented by usda it's been just over two months since the agreement between usda and the state department was signed and already you have announced your plan to spend four hundred and fifty two million dollars to purchase two hundred and eleven thousand metric tons of american grown commodities which will be shipped abroad on american flag vessels to feed those in need overseas i was pleased to see this critical step taken so quickly and i hope you plan to move expeditiously to get the remainder of the fy twenty five balances and the entirety of the one point two billion this subcommittee provided for fy twenty six out the door very soon. Mister Lindbergh as you work to advance America first trade policy on the world stage, I hope this subcommittee can and will be a valuable and active partner. Again, I appreciate you being with us and look forward to today's discussion. I'll now turn to my colleague, Ranking Member Bishop, for his opening remarks.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and good morning, Mister Lindbergh, and thank you very much for being here. Uh, I as the chairman look forward to hearing uh your discussions and projections and priorities for the uh export market development programs. Uh, but uh I must say at the outset that uh today I continue to be outraged by the silence uh on the other side of the out of the destruction of USAID. Uh, it was unlawful and it has already led to the loss of lives and overseas, uh to the diminishment of US influence around the world. Uh I must also express my outrage at the process uh that allowed uh Elon Musk to run roughshod over our government and its personnel. Uh as we look at the implementation of the food for peace under the USDA for twenty twenty six, we see that the mission area is recovering from a twenty one percent loss of staff as of June. Uh, while it takes on the formidable task of standing up the Food for Feast program, as the Chairman just alluded to. On top of this, the market promotion work that you do has become extremely important in helping our producers recover from the devastating effect of the administration's tariffs, uh, many of whom were illegal. Finally, I've been extremely disturbed since the start of the administration by the illegal impounding uh foreign aid funds uh word of american food aid writing-in warehouses and numerous cancelled agreements with implementing partners on the fy twenty six uh agriculture appropriations bill uh we delivered a clear message that we support continued food aid and the administration must follow the law and expend those funds and execute programs like food for peace as statutorily required Uh, given USDA's recent press release regarding uh USDA now implementing the Food for Peace through an inter-agency agreement with USAID, I plan to ask you several questions regarding uh USDA's plans moving forward. The answers to these questions uh will be essential uh for USDA to successfully administer the program. Food for Peace is about more than just using dollars to purchase commodities. Uh, that food must be targeted at the hungry and starving people in the most need, and must actually reach those individuals. Uh, beyond just emergency aid, uh, America has to run its aid programs, including Food for Peace, to build long-term resiliency if we truly want to achieve the shared goal of reducing communities' dependence on American aid. Uh, Mr. Limerick, you've have a great responsibility in your current role and i think that you're currently presented with a unique opportunity i have a number of concerns that i will share today but i also hope to discuss how congress and usda uh can work together to achieve better results in the year ahead uh for american producers and for the people most in need around the world look forward to your testimony and hearing your vision for the programs that are administered uh by your agency in the year ahead. So thank you very much and look forward to your testimony and answers to our questions.

Thank you, Mister Bishop, I'd now like to recognize Under Secretary Lindbergh for his opening statement. And without objection, your entire written testimony will be included in the record. After your statement, we'll proceed with questions. As a reminder to the members, we'll abide by the five minute rule for questions. Mister Lindbergh, you may begin.

Good morning and thank you. There it is. Good morning, and uh thank you Chairman Harris and Ranking Member Bishop as well as the members of this subcommittee. Uh, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to appear this morning on behalf of President Trump and Secretary Rollins and our US Department of Agriculture. Uh, when President Trump nominated me for this role, he said, Luke is gonna go out and get smart trade deals for farmers and ranchers. And that's exactly what we're doing. Our mission is clear. Restore fairness and reciprocity in global markets and return America's agricultural trade balance to a surplus. We're executing this through three pillars, securing better deals, strengthening buyer-seller relationships, and holding our partners accountable. The first of which is securing better deals. For decades, the United States has enjoyed an agricultural trade surplus that changed under the previous administration which signed no new trade deals and failed to enforce existing ones, contributing to a fifty billion Dollar agricultural trade deficit and higher costs for our producers. President Trump has restored an America first approach to trade. Across the interagency, we are a hundred percent aligned and focused on delivering results for farmers, ranchers, and our agricultural producers. One year in, we are seeing measurable progress. In Central America, agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala removed unnecessary fumigation requirements and created new demand for US ethanol, including a fifty million gallon annual commitment from Guatemala. In South America, Argentina is reducing red tape for beef and pork, protecting common meat and cheese terms. In Asia, our framework agreements with Japan has committed to eight billion dollars in US agricultural purchases. Vietnam expanded access for US meats. cheeses and specialty crops South Korea streamlined biotech approvals and protected access for US meat and dairy. Thailand agreed to eliminate tariffs on ninety-nine percent of US goods and made a two point six billion annual feed grain commitment. Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines reduced tariffs, recognized US food safety systems, and removed long-standing non-tariff barriers. taiwan has committed to provide preferential market access for a wide range of us agricultural exports and in europe and the united kingdom we are addressing barriers affecting pork dairy specialty crops and pet food and we've secured expanded beef access and a one point four billion liter ethanol trq these are not abstract commitments they are real tariff reductions purchase agreements and reforms that are translating into export growth. The second area, a pillar we're working on, is strengthening buyer-seller relationships. Market access only matters if it becomes market share. To ensure that happens, Secretary Rollins and I launched a three-point plan last fall, the first of which was we establish the America First trade promotion program, providing targeted trade promotion resources in nontraditional and high-growth markets. This complements USDA's long-standing market access program and foreign market development program. We've deployed trade reciprocity for US manufacturer and producer missions, Trump missions as they're called, complementing our existing agribusiness trade missions and place American producers directly in the markets where reciprocal trade agreements have been secured. These are rapid response trade missions. And we're also modernizing export financing. We've launched a new eighteen month repayment option for our GSM one O two program to improve competitiveness for US agricultural exports in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. These tools ensure American producers can move quickly when the president unlocks new opportunities. And the last pillar is holding our partners accountable. Recipro- reciprocity requires enforcement. USDA works closely with our colleagues at the US Trade Representative's office to ensure commitments are honored. Our nearly one hundred overseas foreign agricultural service offices provide real-time intelligence and rapid response when barriers arise. Recent informants enforcement successes include resolving Pakistan's soybean restrictions, pressing Brazil on ethanol tariffs, and opposing Canada's domestic content requirements. We're also strengthening accountability in our own programs at USDA, including the four hundred and fifty-two million dollar Food for Peace agreement, where we are insisting on one hundred percent American grown commodities, strict new oversight measures, and a path away from forever aid. In conclusion, President Trump and Secretary Rollins have put farmers first, delivering more than eighteen trade deals and frameworks, restoring US leverage and reversing the inherited agricultural trade deficit, which is now forecasted at twenty nine billion dollars. That's an eight billion dollar improvement from just December twenty twenty five, and a fourteen point seven billion dollar improvement from fiscal year twenty five. We will continue using every tool available to expand market access and strengthen the competitive position of American food and agriculture. I thank you and this committee for your support, and I look forward to taking your questions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much. And let me let me start Uh, listen, I wanna thank you for the work you're doing as the uh, you know, promoting uh trade. Uh, obviously, administration-wide, the goal is to reduce our trade deficit, it's to uh uh to enhance uh uh exports and to uh minimize imports. And of course there are two parts to the agricultural trade deficit. One is you wanna increase demand for American products and you're working on that, but uh we also should decrease American demand for foreign products. I mean, I think that's one of our bargaining chips, and as you may or may not know, I've I've suggested that we should take our hundred billion dollar, uh, SNAP program and perhaps require, uh, for almost for for, uh, the large majority of, if not all of it, a Buy American, uh, policy. Uh, because no, you know, I inquire and no one knows how much of the SNAP monies are spent on foreign grown products. But again, when you, when you're talking about a trade deficit that now is in the ballpark,

uh the question is is

is

the question is what what percentage of our overall agricultural products are we consuming in the country so so our trade deficit being twenty nine billion dollars right now we export about a hundred and

yeah that's right right

seventy five billion dollars or so a year of us agricultural exports so the net balance there yields twenty nine billion dollars of uh imports more than we are exporting

right so so we are um so that's about two hundred uh uh billion dollars is that right no you said a hundred and seventy five as as so we are

to two hundred roughly

yeah right in that ballpark out of out of how large is the uh agricultural economy.

So we're consuming, if you do the math on that, if I can uh uh we are importing I'd have to get you an exact number on that,

Yeah. Yeah. If you could do that, yeah.

I'm not sure. Yeah, sure.

So but but it's a but again uh uh it is a and and I assume that a lot of our imports are horticultural versus row crops. Is that right?

We do import more horticultural uh products yes then row crops or and and other things as well yes

right so out of that two hundred billion dollars that we're importing it's probably the majority you think is horticultural

seafood i i wouldn't say the majority of it is but yes a significant portion of it is yep

or or six so but other than a very few specific items like bananas maybe some tropical fruits uh could us producers technically grow the same products we're importing what are you finding from from the things that two hundred billion dollars we import what are we uh uh uh uh uh is uh basically most of the things that we could actually grow or produce here in the united states

there are some very egregious situations seafood being an example of which where we import about seventy five percent of our seafood where we could uh consume more domestic caught seafood here in america as an example uh in other situations our domestic rice producers have uh faced a historic amount of imports coming in as well as our table grape producers as examples uh of areas where we are taking a close look at making sure that they have access to the domestic market that they deserve uh one of the things that our forecast is showing for this upcoming year is a significant dollar for dollar reduction in imports and why we're seeing that is that means more of the american dollars are going towards products that are grown and consumed and processed and produced right here in america

And and so that if we had uh you know a Buy American requirement or I know I've uh uh talked with the general lady from Ohio about uh perhaps promoting American local products, American products, uh that could put more dollars in the pockets of American farmers, wouldn't it?

It would.

If we had that. OK, do you think that that would be in that kind of policy would be in line with Trump administration's America First policies in bringing more uh production back onshore?

Yes, I would encourage you to speak with my colleagues that run the Snap program, uh, about the specifics of that particular program. I'm not, uh, I work with them to make sure that we're promoting American products all around the world, um, but would be happy to get you in touch with those folks to talk about that more specifically.

No, that that'd be great. Again, uh, there's a precious little data available about, you know, what percent of, uh, of our Snap, uh, expenditure. And again, it's a huge expenditure. It's a hundred billion dollars. I mean, it's, you know, it's it's three times the size of our trade deficit, you know, is is, uh, is that one that one chunk of spending. Uh, and and the added benefit I guess would be that as we uh reduce our trade deficit, that we actually uh rely less on foreign countries for our agricultural products. Is that that's one of the benefits?

It does improve our food security.

Right.

Uh, when we produce food and we eat our own food that we raise and grow and slaughter here in America it does increase our food security. Yes, sir.

Oh. Well, thank you very much. And uh, Mister Bishop.

Thank you very much. Uh, I wanna follow along those lines uh before i get into my my real interest uh and that's uh yeah we've heard repeatedly over the last several years uh when i've been visiting farms in middle and southwest georgia uh during farm bill conversations and uh about the trade deficit for american fruits and vegetables uh in twenty nineteen during the first trump administration the ag trade balance shifted to a deficit coinciding with the tariffs in the first trump trade war Uh in twenty twenty two, the gap between imports and exports of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables totaled more than thirty seven billion dollars and has only grown since this administration's come into the play. Uh the US International Trade Commission investigated the impact of seasonal imports to blueberries, cucumber, peppers, and squash. Uh the gruel losses for these commodities are close to two hundred million dollars a year from above average import growth uh into the US. Uh I've introduced the protecting our produce bill to help American growers remain competitive, uh in the face of unfairly priced crop imports. Uh it's a pilot program that will provide payments to certain produce growers when the growers' revenue loss is due to seasonal import volumes. Uh how can USDA and Congress work together to address the foreign dumping of cheap competitors' products? And would this bill be consistent with uh your America First? interest in american producers

sure thank you ranking member i i uh i'm not gonna comment specifically on that piece of legislation but uh the general construct that

you can

the uh that we wanna produce more here in the united states consume more of what we produce here in the united states and export more as well uh is a net-net win for our farmers and that's the equation that we're trying to fix for the trade deficit is to look at how do we consume more of what we produce domestically but also continue to open up markets for our producers overseas.

Right. OK, let me uh go back uh the At the beginning of this administration there were mass firings, uh staff reductions and deferred resignation program was implemented. Um uh the causes was done uh willingly without any plan. Uh the agencies are still in recovery mode. uh they're rehiring people and refilling vacant positions that were created uh without uh a lot of thought uh that was a profound loss of uh dedicated public servants with vital experience uh what are you doing to get uh the foreign agriculture service closer to where it was in staffing before january of twenty twenty five and are you rehiring and for what positions and how many folks have you brought on board

yeah so our our team has delivered an incredible set of results in twenty twenty five and the beginning of twenty twenty six and continues to perform uh quite well globally we've put a lot of wins on the board and i'm very proud of the teamwork that uh our foreign agricultural service colleagues have done

so you did that with few employees

they they have performed at an exceptional rate yes sir

ok how specifically are you using the overseas posts to the new food for peace responsibilities and can that equal the experienced personnel that usaid had on the ground now you're hiring contractors to help with this and if so how many and how you paying for them

yeah at this point in time we're still working through uh exactly what the overall staffing structure will be for the food for peace program uh one of the mechanisms we have employed through this initial award that the four hundred and fifty two million through the world food program uh is a more targeted uh and accountable contract that allows us some additional oversight with w. f. p. uh and allows them to take on some of the responsibilities of our initial work uh to get these this these american commodities into these seven different countries around the world uh more broadly than that as we look to get the additional funds out the door through uh upcoming nofos notice of funding opportunities we'll continue to make sure that we're staffed appropriately to meet the demands of the program

uh you indicate that you've uh already awarded the announced award for four hundred fifty-two million dollars and that's understandable it'll take some time to develop a comprehensive plan for executing the program um but it's concerning that you don't have basic details about how you'll be able to successfully run the program when you've already begun making decisions about it Uh, seems to me that uh you need to have in place uh how it's going to be implemented, who's gonna do it uh before you actually make the award.

W- we do have a team in place. Uh,

Tell me about it.

my yep, my Deputy Under Secretary, Michelle Bekering, is uh leading the team that is implementing Food for Peace at US Department of Agriculture.

But it's gotta be the, they've got the products have to be delivered on the ground. And you don't have an apparatus. USDA has never had an apparatus for doing that. That's the structure that was in place by USAID.

Yep. So so we've worked with our foreign agricultural service colleagues at our posts around the, around the world. Um, but the delivery mechanism will be the World Food Programme, which has been a long-time partner in both Food for Peace as well as our McGovern Dole, Food for Progress, I think as well, programs. Um, maybe just on the McGovern Dole side. Uh, and so we we have a long-standing working relationship with WFP and a, an agreement that allows us to have the accountability we need to make sure that the commodities get delivered in a timely and efficient manner.

K, one one other question, you do have an agreement, but the question is do you have the personnel and do you have the capacity to hold uh those parties accountable, particularly with the the drastic reduction of staff and the loss of those experienced people who actually are responsible for that accountability.

We do, yes.

Thank you. General Lady from Iowa.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, um and thank you to our ranking members as well for holding this hearing today. And um Mister Under Secretary, thank you so much for coming to to testify and answer our questions today. We're excited to learn um more about how you're expanding market access, excited to hear about how these programs are being implemented and leveling the playing field for our producers in great st- eh great ag states like Iowa, uh for our American farmers and ranchers where we feed and fuel the world. Um experiencing one of the most challenging economic times that they've experienced um in decades and uh as the administration works to reverse decades of failed policy um that got us here uh specifically the last couple of years um it is crucial that we are making meaningful progress to secure these strong deals and um enforceable deals as you talked about you know reciprocity requires enforcement in your opening statement um we we need that long-term certainty and that expanded market access so as we know iowa is one of the top ag exporting states in the country we've exported billions of dollars of commodities corn uh pork soybeans uh being the top three um but the best ag products in the world i think come from iowa and farmers in my district are looking for opportunities to build that market access uh around the world we know china buys about sixty percent of our soybeans uh every year so it's important that our soybean producers have access to that market so i appreciate the work that you are doing to um to advance a framework a trade framework with china um that does provide not only that certainty in access but the enforceability as well um because um we've had years of games and failures by china in terms of what they've tried to do in in um getting around our work around for trade obligations so uh can you speak to what work is being done to ensure that china will fulfill its commitment to purchase us soybeans and other commodities as well

yeah absolutely thank you uh congresswoman appreciate the uh the question so we we have worked extensively through my time on making sure that we hold china accountable to the agreement they made with president trump in the fall um they have uh purchased a twelve million metric tons this marketing year of us soybeans and um the president will be visiting with president xi in the coming month here uh as another opportunity for us to continue to reiterate the key components of that agreement uh, and making sure we've already seen them purchasing sorghum. We've seen them purchasing, uh, wood products and things as well, since that agreement was put into place. And we will continue to, to, to make sure that they live up to those commitments and provide the consistent market access that our, our producers need.

Yeah, and I had a conversation with, uh, Secretary Bessen about that. He said he had been with his counterpart in Geneva having conversations about, uh, why those, uh, those games were being played over the last four years under the Biden administration. And he said it was because president biden wasn't calling and president trump is calling president xi on a regular basis to put that pressure on him and say we need you to fulfill these these ends of the trade deals um can you talk a little bit more about how ustr and treasury and you are working together at usda to make sure that we are continuing to elevate the importance of not just soybean um exports but um but all of our commodities as those negotiations continue

yeah so it uh absolutely one of the things i think that's beautiful about this administration is that the inter-agency relationships are very strong uh if you talk to secretary rollins she's in regular communication with ambassador greer with secretary Besant in fact later today uh ambassador greer and secretary rollins and uh ambassador callahan our chief ag negotiator and i are getting together in person to have a conversation about some of these very topics uh ambassador callahan and i have a weekly touch point i get a weekly report from our team on whether or not china is living up to their purchase obligations in that we discuss that every time we get together on a weekly phone call to talk through those uh items so there is a consistent regular approach to ensuring uh accountability there

awesome well and one of the other places that accountability is needed is on biofuels i was encouraged by you saying you know with brazil uh on some of the things you're doing on ethanol there they've been kinda trying to game the system there um but we need to improve access for ethanol exports that's huge for um our uh our producers in iowa great domestic market absolutely for us as well as an international market and you mentioned the economic agreements obviously um with us and the uk um and those will increase our exports by i think the number is seven hundred million dollars so uh continuing to get those trade barriers out of the way is gonna be absolutely critical so that our producers can access those markets um what are you doing to to advance ethanol right i mean i think biofuels are are are a great as i said domestic market but what are we doing on the global stage to make sure that those opportunities exist for our producers as well

yeah there there's been no topic that i've talked about more in my international travels than biofuels uh and the administration is the most pro biofuel administration i think that is ever uh come through the united states of america and we are working everyday with us grains and bioproducts council and other industry players to ensure that biofuels are at the table so yeah we've we we had a fifty percent increase in us ethanol exports now to the uk uh we had this fifty million uh gallon uh opportunity in uh guatemala that it has produced i'm gonna be in guatemala in two weeks to make sure that we're following through on that commitment uh and beginning to build more relationships there we've seen opportunities eh that will advance in indonesia we're excited about the work being done in vietnam right now uh we've had conversations in mexico i mean the the there is not a country that we've been in and been negotiating with where biofuels haven't been part of the broader conversation and opportunity base.

well that's certainly encouraging to hear and i see my time has expired so you'll Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you very much. The General Leader from Ohio is recognized. Miss Kapter.

Thank you Mister Chairman very much and welcome. Uh, Mister Under Secretary, you seem like a man of dispatch, and I wanna follow on what the Chairman was asking about. Uh, if you look at USDA's total budget, um, and you look at the amount of money spent on nutrition for uh seniors, for children, OK? um it's pretty significant and um i'm wondering if you can help us with the farm bill that is being debated in another committee right now to get some type of language in there uh that we all could agree on that would emphasize procurement of us produced fruits vegetables uh other commodities that are moved into these schools and senior centers and so forth Uh, I represent Northwestern Ohio. It's a breadbasket. It's, it's precious. Uh, as most people on this committee, most members represent areas that produce, and we know South Dakota sure does. So, but it's like that part of USDA is disconnected from the producer side. The other thing I'm interested in, in addition to putting locally grown food into the schools and into the senior centers and so forth and nursing homes, i'm very interested in making sure that if an ebt redemption card is used at a supermarket or store that that store provide local product and i could give you ten hours on why that isn't happening in our country but we need somebody usda that connect can connect the production side to the sort of retail side to the sales side to the trade side that doesn't happen And um so I'm have a major fruit and vegetable production uh platform, try to get an apple from Ohio into the schools in Ohio. That's a three hour meeting just on that. So I'm just making you aware of this dysfunction within the agency as a whole. Um the other thing I wanted to mention, I I support others who are talking about ethanol. Can you help us get the E fifteen language over in the farm bill? i don't understand what the hold up is i don't know uh yesterday whether the amendments were offered or not but my area is a major producer of ethanol if we didn't have and you know this from south dakota if we didn't have fuels and i was part of the original team before you were all born uh to create the legislation with senator lugar and uh um uh harkin of uh iowa and indiana to create that legislation if that didn't exist our corn and soy people would be bankrupt in the current market. So we don't need to fool around on fuels anymore. We need to have better plant science. We need to help our farmers and we need to do something. I don't understand what the controversy is over in the in the committee on E fifteen, but I wanted to put in a word uh on that. Um uh are you able to you are able to influence policy over there, right? In your positions at the department.

Yes, ma'am.

OK. Well, um hear me clearly, OK? Local product, in local schools and on local shelves of places that sell product. So, challenge you. Apples in the school lunch program, school breakfast program, broccoli, well I don't I don't really, uh other other uh vegetables that children would actually eat, uh that are locally grown into those into those programs. Milk from from local producers, that isn't happening um across our country, it's a big problem. Then I wanted to mention Canada for Ohio She is our Chief Export Market. I mean, Canada is really important to us. I don't know what you can do with the administration. We gotta find a way for our farmers to get the peat moss from there, which is where they get it. We've gotta find a way to be able to sell our product there. It's really hurting us. And what he just did on the Gordie Howe Bridge. I don't know who advised him on that. I know you didn't. But uh, but but it's a problem, and it's a big problem. And it's hurting our farmers. They need more export markets. We need to be able to function uh with the third largest economy in the world united states and uh canada across the great lakes is being harmed is being i'm just making you aware of that so the final thing i wanna ask you a question uh ukraine uh is a country that uh has a lot to do with feeding people in africa and other places ok and along with us one of the greatest agricultural economies in the world there was an agreement signed with usda uh and ukraine under prior administrations i don't know whether you looked at that yet there's an mou um for agricultural cooperation with usda i can guarantee you i traveled to ukraine with the head of land the lakes from minnesota years ago um and with other farmers from our country trying to help the people of ukraine hold on to their most important asset their agricultural land could i ask you to please look at renewing that agreement it's set to

Um, ma'am, I'm not aware of it, but I'm happy to commit to you that I will take a look at that.

Okay. We have a bipartisan US-Ukraine caucus here in the house. We'll work with you in every way. We don't need to do any more harm over there.

Good.

All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dr.

Thank you. The gentleman from Florida.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ranking Member uh Bishop, and thank you uh, Under Secretary Lindbergh, for being here with us this morning, sharing your testimony. Um, obviously you inherited a tough situation. Quite a deficit we have going, trade deficit, and I appreac- appreciate and applaud all the efforts you've made so far in this. Uh, as you noted and and the chair and and the ranking member talked about in their questions, there's two sides to this equations, it's exports and imports. Um, most of your testimony, and I know some of the lot of that is your background, but a lot of what has been done so far is regarding exports. I'm I'm coming at it selfishly as a Floridian from the import side of the uh the equation. Uh, as you may know, uh, farmers in my district in central and south Florida uh primarily grow specialty crops, and they are highly vulnerable to unfair trade practices like dumping, especially from Mexico. Uh, my producers welcome targeted trade interventions to ensure that they compete, and that's really all they're looking for is to compete. They did, they just they don't want an unfair advantage. I mean, they would welcome that, but they just really want an opportunity to compete fairly. Uh, others, while others are concerned that some of these uh actions may provoke retaliation against our exports, my folks just want actually just access to our own domestic market. Uh, according to an October twenty twenty five report from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida growers have lost nearly fifty percent of their market share to foreign imports over the last twenty years, while Mexico's share of our domestic market has soared by nearly two hundred percent. The report also estimates that this trade disparity has killed over four thousand jobs in Florida alone and cost us up to a billion dollars in missed, economic activity annually. uh it's unacceptable and it certainly isn't sustainable. Now I just had a round table last week with farmers who want desperately to continue farming, but it gets tougher and tougher every year, especially with mother nature as your primary business partner. We've already got enough curveballs thrown uh from that without uh unfair trade practices. As you know, the USMCA is scheduled for a joint review between signatories this July. It's critical that the administration utilize this vehicle to implement new tools, like seasonal tariff rate quotas on certain products. Without changes, Florida producers will be completely shut out of our own domestic market. While USDA does not negotiate the USMCA trade agreements directly, your office does play a key advisory role in agricultural trade. Does the USDA support stronger seasonal safeguards for specialty crop growers who struggle to compete with Mexico?

Thank you, sir, for the question. So, um, uh, again, I'll mention that, uh, couple things quickly. One is that we are forecasting a significant decrease in the overall price of imports this year and the the total dollar amount of imports that are coming in the united states of america um so i think we are making progress on this and uh i certainly will commit to you to uh advise uh usr colleagues uh of your comments and your feedback today i i recently was with in south texas with citrus growers there i was recently in california and met with uh many folks in the horticulture space there stone fruit farmers uh table grape growers who have the same concerns These concerns are not going on deaf ears and are absolutely part of our overall conversations around what the USMCA agreement could and should look like.

Do you support or does USDA support implementing product-specific trade rate quotas as part of USMCA?

I I don't I will uh commit to you that I'm happy to share those viewpoints with our, our colleagues at the US Trade Representative's office, but they are really the the point person on negotiating what will be included and not included in that final terms of the agreement.

OK. Um, just generally, how does USDA track dumping and import surges that are affecting specialty crops, especially for Mexico, which now uh accounts for almost seventy percent of our imports?

Yeah, so e- every uh month we get a a uh export import uh overall sort of uh data dump from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that gets compiled into our systems and we track that on a monthly basis in terms of what's coming in and what's coming out of the country.

OK. that current trade enforcement mechanisms are sufficient to protect our uh US fruits and vegetable producers.

I I think there are areas where we can do better than we're doing today.

K. Could you maybe share some of those, what what we might be able to assist with and and help uh push along?

Well, I think if you if you take a look at some of the actions we've already taken, for example, on the tomato suspension agreement with Mexico, um we have seen uh I think uh this administration take a little bit harder stance on ensuring that our tomato growers in the United States and in your home state of Florida have a better opportunity to compete. Um, so that would be one example, I think, that we are are taking a stance that that more s- directly supports our domestic producers.

Alright. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. You're back.

Yep.

Thank you. The General Lady from Florida is recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I'm just gonna jump right in since my time is limited. Um, Mr. Under Secretary of Florida Farmers and well uh, it's fortuitous that we have a Florida tag team here, so I'll focus on a lot of the same subject. florida farmers are already struggling to overcome a historic freeze in citrus greening and now the president's illegal erratic tariffs inflate prices and strain critical relationships with key trading partners i don't think citrus growers need any more challenges but under president trump last year bankruptcies filed by florida farmers shut up two hundred percent i'm a strong believer as i know uh the gentleman from central florida is that florida grows the best oranges and our top trade partners agree sixty percent of the us orange juice exported to canada comes from florida but because of trump's trade war orange juice shipments from florida plummeted to a record low last june florida's exports to the european union and japan tanked as well the choices made by the trump administration are really hurting farmers shippers and consumers in my home state under secretary lindbergh with the historic freeze cutting our citrus farmers yields this administration and president trump twisting the knife with a hailstone hailstorm of illegal tariffs that may or may not make a summer return post the supreme court ruling last month now it's a tough call on which are a harder hit for citrus farmers natural or trump made disasters mister under secretary please share with us what you are doing to repair our trade relationships with canada the eu japan and globally

thank you uh madam congresswoman appreciate the question so to start off uh i'd like to note that we we did as part of our part of our farmer bridge assistance program provide one billion dollars specifically targeted for specialty crop growers here in united states of america which will go to many of the uh types of producers you're discussing uh in your home state of florida um on top of that uh if you look at our historic trade relationship with many of these markets for example the european union as a uh key example we have had a twenty three point six billion dollar trade deficit with the european union Uh, so we have not they have not played fairly with us for too long. They have inhibited our ability to export to their market, while they have materially benefited from access to our market. The same is now true with Canada.

OK, I'm I'm sorry, I'm

Canada, we have an eleven billion dollar trade deficit.

I have limited time and I wanna reclaim and just suggest that because that trade deficit was getting worse as a result of Trump's tariff policy um that's going in the wrong direction. Let me um let me shift gears. uh because like my colleagues i'm also concerned that moving food for peace from usaid to the agriculture department creates way more problems than it pretends to solve before trump and elon musk illegally gutted usaid it had over six thousand overseas staff in over sixty different missions in usaid s humanitarian assistance bureau it had over a thousand staff including hundreds contracted on the ground contrast that with usda s roughly one hundred and fifty foreign service officers serving abroad now which is the fraction of the staff in the united states who focus on trade policy and diplomatic relations not humanitarian assistance how many usda staff are currently posted overseas and what percentage have experience with humanitarian work in administrating global aid to countries facing famine war or poverty

so usda has long time been the uh administrator of both the mcgovern dole and food for progress programs and has spent uh significant resources

specifically how many how many employee how many do you have posted overseas now

so i i believe that number you quoted is roughly correct about a hundred and fifty uh and then we also have locally employed staff uh which

a hundred and fifty ok

significantly outnumbers the number of foreign service officers

are there plans reclaiming my time are there plans to increase foreign agricultural service staff and if so how many do you plan to hire and when will foreign service staff be at full capacity

we we are planning on hiring additional staff the food for peace program as well as uh

how many

a specific target number of additional foreign service officers to continue to recruit on an annual basis to bring more staff on board

can you submit those answers to the record when you have more detail please

yes ma'am

ok and finally in your confirmation hearing you spoke eloquently about how you're driving motivation in this job is to be a voice for those that can't speak for themselves and to help people who lack life's most basic necessities and those values guide me as well but what baffles me is the administration that you work for is demolishing programs that ensure vulnerable women and children don't starve to death. Estimates already run to the hundreds of thousands in avoidable deaths due to the trump administration's cuts to food assistance and the broader foreign aid freeze. So I must ask, how does gutting the food for peace and the mcdover and dole programs square with our shared values to defend the least among us?

Uh my response would be that I I believe if you look at the programs that USAID was funding at the time that the trump administration came into uh office this time last year were not aligned with american foreign policy interests

they were funding food for peace and mcgovern dole programs and you cut them

the the programs being funded by usaid were not in alignment with the

that's the program you just said that you would administer

us foreign policy interests and so we are we took a uh strategic look at how to do that more effectively and we are administering these programs now and targeting foreign assistance in a way that actually accomplishes us strategic interests around the world.

Your woke war, your your woke culture war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. And you need to make sure that you have your values match and put your money where your where the administration's mouth is. I yield back.

Thank you, Madam.

Thank you. The gentleman from Michigan is recognized. Thank you, Mister Chairman and uh, Mister Lindenberg, I apologize uh, we have another uh, subcommittee hearing going on right now as well, so uh, I wasn't able to hear your opening statement, but um i wonder if you could uh add a few questions um i wanna start with uh i've seen firsthand the uh diplomatic role that us products like rutfs uh play in the food for peace program and i'm just wondering what actions are you taking to accommodate more types of us commodities within the program like rutfs and shelf stable milk

yeah thank you sir for the question um we are going to be issuing a new notice of funding opportunity for competitive bidding process uh for additional uh food for peace awards in the coming month here uh and at that time we are open to to products like RUTF playing an important role in in those uh ongoing opportunities

ok thank you and then uh recently uh our china select committee had a trip to vietnam and the philippines and i wondered if you could comment on how congress can support usda s mission to bring countries like vietnam and the philippines toward more american producers and away from china and its predatory trade practices

um it's great to have a all of the above america first approach right we want everybody singing out the same song sheet but the group of people that most impacts our ability to sell products in these markets is our us farmers So I often say, uh, we need, and and the reason the why the secretary and I launched our three point plan, is to get our American farmers into these markets quickly and effectively after the president signs these trade agreements. That is what unlocks the market access opportunity. It's the buyer seller relationships. Right? I sort of say that's where the magic happens. Um, so we we can absolutely work with you all if you're going out to do these missions, and we we love to have your voice, and we love to have you meeting with our government counterparts to hold them accountable. and help to tell that story. But the group of people we need to get most engaged is the farmers and ranchers of America who can, they have the dirt underneath their fingernails and they go out and they tell people, this is why their beef is better than the next guy's beef, or this is why their soybeans have a different, you know, uh, special process to them. And that that type of thing is what we're looking for.

I wonder if you could uh comment on priority countries for trade missions that you have this year and and what are you hoping to achieve in those missions?

so so we have two types of trade missions now just briefly as a sort of the traditional agribusiness trade mission which is belongs in the flagship of usda s foreign agricultural service we've layered on top of that these rapid response

mmm

trade reciprocity for us manufacturers and producers trump missions the goal of those is to get into these markets quickly uh and so in next week i'll be in guatemala and el salvador um we're going to vietnam uh three weeks later uh we are gonna be in the philippines coming up shortly thereafter that for agribusiness trade mission uh i think we have no better time in the history of us farming and ranching than right now to access new mouths and new dollars around the world and so it's it's really a follow-on approach to getting into the markets where the president has created access today that we didn't have yesterday

thank you and then uh one last question i uh thinking about the usmca um i wonder if you could comment on what you're doing to ensure that us dairy and agriculture in specific continue to and increasingly benefit under the us mca and what do you plan on advocating for during the upcoming review period

um so with respect to dairy specifically uh mexico is dairy's number one market globally uh and so we know that and we understand that protecting access to that market uh protecting uh ourselves against europe's uh unfair trade practices that they try to discriminate against our dairy producers by not letting us sell feta and parmesan and other things into certain markets will be a key prioritization for us uh and we also know uh that canada has treated our dairy producers unfairly since the us mexico canada agreement was put into place uh that is a top priority issue for being addressed during the review process.

Wonderful. Thank you very much and uh thank you, Mister Chairman, I yield back.

Thank you. The General Lady from Washington is recognized.

Thank you, and thank you Chairman Harris and Ranking Member Bishop for holding this hearing. Um Under Secretary Lindbergh, you're, you're, is your team aware of the barriers impacting specialty crop access to the global market? And can you tell me a bit more about the TFAA's trade promotion activities that seek to level the playing field for specialty crop? We talk a lot about commodity, but in the specialty crop.

Yeah, sure. Thank you, Congressman. um we we've actually had what i think is a tremendous showing of specialty crop growers participate in our recent uh trade mission activity um so we've had blueberry folks down in mexico with us we've had uh i mean it's it's been amazing to me washington apple uh came with us to japan i think and then also to indonesia um i mean the the engagement we've had with the specialty crop growers has really been robust And we have also leveraged the existing Market Access Program dollars for market development, uh, and, and, um, our Market Access Program as well as the TASK, the, uh, the, uh, Technical Assistance for Specialty Crop Program, to make sure we're unlocking those market access opportunities. So I think the, the, the USTR team has done a terrific job of finding new opportunities, and then now we're resourcing our cooperator partners to get out there and get in the field and start making sales happen.

um we are one of the larger cranberry producing districts and um uh my home district produces over seventy five thousand barrels of cranberries annually and it's been a great year um in terms of weather conditions um but i i my my farmers are really struggling and and one of the things that we've learned digging into this is that our producers aren't selling as much because they can't access the global market they're getting squeezed out um because the Canadians who used to grow organic but no longer do have preferential access to European markets um and um they are still remaining uh with their preferential status um over American producers so I'm wondering if the TFAA is aware of Canada's advantage in the European markets and how does the TFAA monitor trade challenges and implement strategies to eliminate those

yeah so everyday each of our personnel around the world or uh at at these different posts around the world are actively working to identify trade barriers and tear them down for us producers uh certainly we're trying to make progress with the europeans on them implementing the agreement on reciprocal trade that the president uh put forth earlier this year um we are aware of canada's uh preferential access in this particular situation and would be happy to follow up with you off-line to talk more specifically about how we plan to address that if that'd be helpful for you

that would be helpful thank you so much um i was also wondering what your agency's role is in ensuring that can canada complies with the us anti-dumping rules and does not disadvantage our our timber industries with lumber dumping

um so lumber dumping from canada in the united states

softwood

yep so uh we are let me get you an answer on this we are not directly responsible for ensuring that that takes place, but uh we can get you the right point of contact, likely the Commerce Department uh to help uh address that particular issue for you.

OK, thank you. I yield back.

Thank you very much. The uh gentle lady from Illinois is recognized.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, my home state of Illinois is proud to be the nation's leading soybean producer, exporting hundreds of millions of bushels a year to feed the world. But today our farmers are watching that leadership slip away, thanks to this administration's devastating tariffs. Illinois farmers aren't just losing sales, they are losing their legacy. China, a long-standing cu- a U. U. uh customer of U. S. soybean farmers has turned to South America to meet their supply needs and to deliver lower prices. We are falling behind in an industry that we used to dominate. And because of these tariffs, American farmers are being hit twice. First when the cost of equipment and fertilizer is through the roof, and then again when they get lower prices for their crops because of retaliatory tariffs. American families are seeing the devastating impacts as well, as prices in the grocery store only get higher and higher. Make no mistake, President Trump's tariffs are threatening American farmers' livelihoods and all of our wallets. When the Supreme Court ruled to strike down Trump's emergency tariffs, my constituents in LaSalle and DeKalb counties finally had hoped that they could recover their losses. Instead, that hope was crushed almost immediately. when President Trump announced a global tariff rate of ten percent across the board, once again treating farmers as collateral damage to his poor policy decisions. But the economic damage is only part of the story. While you shuttered our expert markets, export markets, the Trump administration is also doubling down on an industrial model that requires the use of dangerous chemicals like glyphosate. As a registered nurse, the health and safety of my constituents is always my top priority. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has reviewed hundreds of studies and found clear evidence that glyphosate is a carcinogen. Despite the industry's lobbying efforts to obscure the truth, the science is undeniable. Yet this administration is pushing to produce more of it. You're putting corporate profit above the health of our farmers, our children, and our water supply. This is just another instance. of this administration putting corporate profit above the needs of our farmers and our communities. And now your office and the administration are attempting to frame these trade barriers and chemical dependencies as matters of quote " national security". Let me be clear. Using national security as a shield to justify poisoning our food supply and bankrupting family farms is a betrayal of American values. Mandating the use of carcinogens is not making America healthy again. Lying in the pockets of foreign competitors while Illinois farmers suffer is not putting America first. I refuse to accept a policy that treats the long-term wellness of our children as an acceptable trade-off for short-term corporate gains. Now, you say that you care about farmers, but these actions show what this administration is really about. Empty promises for the people and big wins for large corporations and the wealthy. Our food supply is not secure. Our farmers and the working families that they feed are not protected. President Trump's policies, which you have carried out, have traded away our health for corporate dividends and our competitive edge for empty slogans. It is time to stop using national security as a shield for the failures and to start protecting the actual health and the actual livelihoods of the American people. I have no questions for this witness. The Trump administration's actions speak for themselves, and I yield back.

Well, thank you very much. Um, I guess every everyone haven't asked questions. I have a few follow-up questions if anybody has any others.

Right.

Um So, let me just ask you, when when you formulate trade policy, is your assumption that if you can decrease a dollar in foreign and foreign imports that that is going to go to domestic product or or are there studies on this i mean when you when you do you understand what i mean if if we discourage an import of a dollar worth of product does the consumer take that dollar that they would have spent on a foreign product and spend it on a domestic product

i think it's a little more complicated than that but generally speaking

in agriculture

we support eating food grown raised and produced here in america and yes more often when we have a fair level playing field domestically and internationally for our producers, our producers tend to win that dollar out of somebody's pocket, that wants to buy food.

Right. So, so, you've reduced the trade deficit by about twenty billion dollars, right? The agricultural trade deficit.

Correct.

So, I'm gonna assume that most of that money is gonna be spent on an American product instead of a foreign product, because it's not being imported and someone, you know, you have to buy food. Um, uh, just from the fifty thousand foot view, Our entire budget in the USDA, if you exclude SNAP, you know, our discretionary budget, you exclude WIC, is less than twenty billion dollars. And our farmers love the our, you know, our programs because it it helps them. But by order of magnitude, your reduction in that trade deficit in one year is puts more dollars, probably puts more dollars in the in the pockets of our farmers than the money we spend in this committee the discretionary spending we we spend in this committee. is that approximately right because i mean you you you took twenty billion dollars that was gonna be spent on foreign product and most of it's gonna be spent on domestic product now is that right

that's correct sir

so by orders of again by orders of magnitude again cause i i looked it up while uh some of the uh uh other uh members had questions uh we import about fifteen to nineteen percent of our agriculture products it depends on how you define it if it's just straight food it's about fifteen percent if you include ingredients incorporated in domestic production it's a little it's a little lower. Uh, but that means that, uh, if we, if we, again, if we went to Buy American and Snap, it would put ten to fifteen billion dollars into the pro- into the pockets of American farmers that that's going uh that's going overseas now so again uh I appreciate what you've done uh uh on the on the trade deficit uh it's a big concern for my farmers. Uh, again, they they're they know it, but the average American still thinks we're an exporting country. on agriculture they they believe that we feed the world and yet right now uh on that the world helps feed us so i wanna thank you for the job you do and i wanna recognize because

yes of course

the ranking member of the full committee came in and she is recognized for comments

thank you very much

questions

mister chairman and ranking member appreciate it there's labor hhs subcommittee meeting at the same time so i apologize to you uh mister lindbergh but um in the uh uh president's uh state of the union last month he claimed that inflation was plummeting uh yet for american consumers it really doesn't reflect the reality we're looking at food prices have experienced severe volatility over the past year prices for many items continue to rise over the past year the price of ground beef has increased by thirteen point seven percent sandwich bread by three point seven percent chicken breast by two point three percent and orange juice by a whopping twenty eight point two percent The culprit, President Trump's sweeping tariffs, which needlessly raise prices on basic goods, some of which we do not even produce domestically. Uh, i- i- in in your testimony you claimed that the president's ag trade agenda is guided by the goal of getting America's agricultural trade deficit back to surplus. That's that's that's a quote. Um, uh, uh, do you know how much, uh, Under Secretary the the food trade balance change in the first eleven months of twenty twenty five

the food trade balance

the food trade balance how much did it change in the first eleven months of twenty twenty five

yeah this time last year that we were forecasting a forty nine and a half fifty billion dollar trade deficit at us department of agriculture we ended the year uh at a forty one point three billion dollar trade deficit uh the end of the the physical year at the a forty one point three billion dollar trade deficit

so and um But my understanding is that the food trade deficit, the food trade deficit grew by nearly four billion dollars in real terms during the first eleven months of twenty twenty five. That does not seem like a trade policy that that um works for farmers. Um uh uh it's There's a there's a disconnect here uh with again with the food trade balance here. so

we're actually forecasting a twenty nine billion dollar trade deficit this year uh so it would be significantly down uh from what we experienced last year

and that's significant to food

correct uh only in food and agriculture

you also claimed that the us shifted to an agriculture a trade deficit under president biden do you know what year that shift happened

was in twenty twenty five

now the us switched to an agricultural trade deficit in twenty nineteen

twenty six twenty

the third year of the first trump administration

we actually had a trade surplus in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four

but we we we we we moved to the deficit in that switch so there's there's always the inclination

ok

uh to you claim that the us shifted to an agricultural trade deficit under president biden the year that the the shift happened was in twenty nineteen under uh under a trump uh administration so uh i i think we need to keep the facts uh in in uh uh in in front of us as we as we move through these uh through the through these efforts um i have a remaining one one minute here so um uh the the we we're looking at the issues of reciprocal trade because the administration response to consumers and farmers has been quote bear with us on the one hand there are administration so-called agreements on reciprocal trade the agreements are nothing more in some instances of hostage taking using the tariffs uh to really coerce trading partners into eliminating common sense food safety rules at the behest of large us agribusiness while we're securing commitments to purchase us agricultural that hand over market power to the largest players. Can you provide any evidence that these trade deals will uplift small and specialty crop farmers, or lower food prices? I'm from Connecticut. We have specialty crops. These are the farmers that are always left out of the equation. Um, no matter what what what what it is, bridge loans, whatever it is, uh we're at the short end of the stick so what is the evidence that you can point to uh that the trade deals are going to help small and specialty crop uh farmers it's trickled down which we've all heard about before it rarely trickles down

sure no i i uh look i'm very confident that our small and medium producers particularly the specialty crop growers are going to be uh very successful under many of these trade agreements uh for example i'm gonna pull up a couple here um the agreement with india alone is one that uh we will highlight as an opportunity for blueberries cranberries wine and spirits tree nuts apples red sorghum not just the corn and soybeans that uh folks traditionally talk about same we're looking at uh significant wins in taiwan related to lamb and sheep meat uh related to tree nuts dog and cat food ketchup peanuts um if you look over at uh indonesia we are looking at new opportunities for wine and distilled spirits we're looking at new opportunities for um uh feed ingredients which is probably not the the group you're talking about

mmm

um so so beyond that and and more here i could continue to go into uh israel the new agreement on uh agricultural trade with israel opens fresh fruits fresh vegetables almonds wine milk powder um there are significant opportunities for small and medium producers in the traditionally specialized crop space in a lot of what the president has negotiated and we're working eagerly to get those folks on the ground in these markets to build buyer seller relationships this is not a partisan issue everybody wins

mmm

yeah well

when we export more agricultural products from the united states america and we're working hard to make sure that happens

if if we could because my time is well over over the period of time is if you could provide to us i think the committee it would be very very helpful um uh uh for us to know to be very honest we don't have the specifics of of the trade agreements we just don't we hear about the trade agreements but we don't know what's in them we don't know what the benefits are uh we don't know what potential losses are so that in in terms of this area if we can be privy to the information that is in this trade in these trade agreements that can tell us and in my instance what's going to happen to small farmers and specialty crop farmers, I would very very much like that like to have that information.

I will commit to get to you every hour now.

Thank you, thank you so much, I really appreciate your time.

Yeah, of course. My pleasure.

Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you. Mister Bishop, do you have any

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman.

uh

Um Mister Lindberg, uh earlier in February the White House announced that India would be eliminating or reducing tariffs on many of our agricultural products including tree nuts. Uh with the loss of our pecan uh China market, expanding the market in India is critical uh to the industry's future. And of course Georgia produces more pecans than any other state. Uh the Indian tariff on US pecan imports has been as high as one hundred percent. And after a great deal of effort, India reduced the tariff to approximately thirty percent. Uh with the new administration's uh india agreement what rate will the new india tariff be for us uh pecan imports and when can we expect the tariff reduction to be implemented

yes sir so so the team at ustr the trade representative's office is working to finalize the india agreement uh as we speak and i don't have an announcement for you right now on a timeline related to exactly when that we anticipate that will come into full force but i i do anticipate that pecans will be a part of that overall agreement as the broader tree nut industry is included

you give us a copy of the terms of reference

uh as soon as they're finalized i can get you a copy of that yes

thank you um tell us what you're doing what usda is doing to support the non-tariff barriers on us ag exports uh through the bilateral trade negotiations and um with regard to tariffs uh we need to be able to compete globally our producers do but the tariffs on the ag imports inputs uh not only make uh inputs more expensive for american farmers uh but they make inputs for global competitors cheaper uh secretary rollins said last week that she wants to get to the bottom of why the costs have gone up so much uh but one of the reasons is obviously the tariffs uh what are you doing to make sure that US farmers are not put at a competitive disadvantage by the tariffs? And will you commit to working with USTR to ensure that trade negotiations do not result in higher costs for our farmers? And, uh, would you tell us about the global trading standards and rules which are critical for agricultural trade, and what you're doing to assure that Codex, the World Trade Organization and other international organizations can continue to support our trade for US products, foreign products.

Yes, sir. I wanna make sure I just have all. So, we have non-tariff barriers was the first question. The second question um was on input prices,

Inputs.

inputs, and then the third was on Codex.

Yes.

Is that correct? Just wanna make sure I hit all three of those for you.

Yeah, standards, global standards.

Yep. Course. yes sir so uh i agree with you non-tariff barriers are a huge issue for our producers in fact they traditionally have been worse than the tariff barriers that our foreign markets have waged war on our producers with um because they pop up and they go away and they come back and we ship things places and then they get turned away it's a it's a very unfortunate situation um i can tell you that uh many of the agreements have addressed very specifically non-tariff barriers in a wide variety of ways but there's one i wanna highlight for you specifically uh i mentioned in my opening remarks that uh a number of countries in particularly asia have agreed to recognize the us food safety system as safe that is a monumental shift in trade relations with these markets because traditionally these markets will say oh we disagree with the way you evaluate this product or this particular uh chemical you use or this other thing and they will target our producers based on individual specific items this is a sort of carte blanche way of approaching an agreement that says the us food system is safe and if it's safe to eat in america it's safe to eat in your country

that's that's good and that that for asia uh but we got particular difficulty with europe

we we also have issues with europe we can get to that too i agree with you

yes i think that's a good option

yes um but we're so i'm just saying they're using that as a negotiating tactic to make sure that we are erasing potential issues down the road so that it's not just a one-off every time a country has a specific individual concern it's saying no no if it's safety in the united states it's safe to eat there and that allows us to cover a whole lot of non-tariff barriers that exist or could potentially exist down the road.

interesting

uh on inputs uh we have advocated for making sure that our farmers produce crops at an effective and competitive rate um we have seen uh tariffs come off of a number of inputs that the president initially started with and has since withdrawn on fertilizers and other things to make sure that our producers are in fact uh able to produce their crops and their products at a reasonable uh effective rate. And so uh a lot of that has already been addressed at this point in time on import tariffs on those specific uh input products. Number three, with respect to Codex, I was actually in Rome last week and met with the Secretariat of the Codex as well as uh the Food and Agriculture Organization uh Director General Chu to talk specifically about ensuring that uh our science-based standards are the gold standard globally and that american producers have the ability to continue selling our products uninterrupted using the trade terms that are being perpetuated through codex and fao

thank you i think my time is expired

no thank you thank you very much no problem madam right remember do you have any other questions

well i i would just make the point with regard to food safety to be very honest with you i don't know what the standards when you talk about asia what whether all this applies to china and what is coming from china that that that's not we need to be very wary of all of that in terms of food safety the other piece to this is quite frankly the europeans have a much stronger uh food safety protocol than the united states does uh so if we are uh they're adopting what our standard is in some respects that is a a a a lesser uh requirements around around food safety and we know we had was it uh uh just a week ago when you had the briefing mister chairman about the whole issue of food safety you know in the united states and what's happening with the increased recalls our ability to uh inspect uh food coming in uh it's about one percent i think they said you know yeah this is i i don't know what the standards mean or what they're accepting or so forth but quite frankly i think that this is a a system that needs to be uh looked at we talked about it at the the chairman's briefing but with regard to what we're doing with our our our our trading that uh we are not lowering standards for food uh coming here because it it really agrees with big agribusiness or other you know interests on that uh food safety is a very very serious issue uh in this country and we do not i would say it flat out we like to say we have the safest food uh in the world and that is not true that is not true and we're not doing enough to safeguard uh our food uh uh in in in this country i'm be happy to talk further with you about what are the things you're doing thank you very much.

thank you thank you very much uh and uh i wanna thank you for being here today uh. uh before you go i i do wanna comment uh i'm uh look i'm glad the food for peace program uh i'm glad it took it over from usaid because i will tell you a very very brief anecdote when i visited the kukuma refugee camp in northwest kenya uh several years ago there was a i was at the food distribution center and there was a stack of bags that had usaid stamps on them and the corn was grown in kenya and the reason was is because kenya does not take non-GMO, does not take GMO corn from the United States to feed refugees. Like, I'm sorry, but you know, if it's good enough for our people, it should be good enough for feeding refugees through our foreign aid program. So, again, uh, thank you for emphasizing that, uh, we we should be selling American foreign products. Finally, you're gonna, you said you're gonna see Secretary Rollins later today. Thank you the price of eggs is down to one sixty-six in my local grocery store. hasn't been that way hasn't been that way for several years. Again, I wanna thank you for being here today. I think our discussion reflected strong support for USDA's trade promotion and international programs. Uh, we look forward to working with you as we move through our FY twenty-seven process, and continue to address these critical issues for American farmers. As a reminder, if members would like to submit questions for the record, please submit those to the subcommittee staff within seven days. The subcommittee stands adjourned.

No closing stages.

What's that?

good god

thank you alright