This week marks another deadline in President Donald Trump’s long-running tariff saga. Higher country-specific reciprocal tariffs that were unveiled on April 2 but postponed for 90 days to allow breathing room for negotiations are set to snap back into place on Friday.
Also this week, the Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hastily called hearing on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ sweeping plan to reorganize her department. Lawmakers got minimal if any notice ahead of the plan’s release on Thursday. The plan calls for moving much of what remains of USDA’s staff in the national capital region.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden, who was the department’s general counsel during the first Trump administration when two research agencies were moved to Kansas City, will be the sole witness at Wednesday’s hearing.
Senate Ag members are certain to question Vaden about the loss of expertise resulting from the likely loss of personnel who decline to move from the D.C. area.
The Senate is scheduled to break for its August recess this week but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is pressing to get more of President Donald Trump’s nominees confirmed. Five USDA nominees are currently awaiting floor action, including Thune’s son-in-law, Luke Lindberg, Trump’s nominee to be undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs.
Meanwhile, Trump headed to the United Kingdom this weekend as his tariff deadline loomed. Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday and is scheduled to meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday.
Following their Sunday meeting, Trump and Von der Leyen announced a deal that would leave a 15% baseline tariff in place and included European commitments to boost investment in the U.S. and energy purchases.
Since April, Trump has adjusted the tariff levels for more than 20 of dozens of trading partners, assigning new rates in a series of letters that went out over the last few weeks. Others, like Japan, Indonesia and now the EU, have negotiated arrangements for reduced tariff rates.
The pacts leave double-digit tariffs in place on imported products but provide some tariff relief – in the Philippines' case, just a single percentage point reduction.
Other countries’ officials are still working with the Trump administration to find a path forward.
During his conversation with reporters, Trump downplayed the prospects of a deal with Canada.
“I think Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs, not really a negotiation,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, senior South Korean officials met with Howard Lutnick in Washington on Friday. Talks with Brazil, which Trump threatened with a 50% tariff rate, up from just 10% in April, have stalled, however, Reuters reported on Friday.
Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be in Stockholm on Monday and Tuesday for talks with Chinese counterparts. U.S.-China talks are on their own schedule, with higher duties not set to return until Aug. 12, but Bessent told Fox Business last week that he expects both sides to agree on a new deadline as part of this week’s talks.
The meeting is the third set of high-level trade discussions; during the previous meetings in Geneva and London, participants walked away with an agreement to suspend most of the heaviest tariffs on each other’s products, which had been over 100% for most goods.
On Friday, Trump teased a potential agreement following the Stockholm visit, saying the administration had the “confines of a deal.”
In another trade Groundhog Day, the courts are also set to grapple with the legality of Trump’s tariffs later this week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear oral arguments on Thursday in a case challenging the president’s use of emergency powers to adopt tariffs.
The Court of International Trade ruled the tariffs unlawful in May, but the Federal Circuit stayed the order, leaving them in place. If the president loses this case at the appeals court, the issue could go to the Supreme Court.
Here is a list of agriculture or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):
Monday, July 28
Agricultural Media Summit through Wednesday, Rogers, Arkansas.
The International Association for Food Protection annual meeting through Wednesday, Cleveland.
Agricultural and Applied Economics Association annual meeting through Tuesday, Denver.
9:30 a.m. – The International Trade Commission will hold a hearing as part of its probe into U.S. competitiveness in nonfat milk solids.
4 p.m. – USDA releases Crop Progress report.
Tuesday, July 29
3 p.m. – Senate Ag Committee hearing to reauthorize the U.S. Grain Standards Act, 328A Russell.
Wednesday, July 30
International Fresh Produce Association's Foodservice Conference through Friday, Monterey, California.
11 a.m. – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing with Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden to review the USDA’s reorganization proposal, 328 Russell.
4 p.m. – The CATO Institute will host a discussion with Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., on the impact of tariffs on the U.S. wine and spirits industry.
Thursday, July 31
8:30 a.m. – USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.
Friday, August 1
International Sweetener Symposium through Wednesday, Traverse City, Michigan.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
