Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday that the administration will make an announcement next week on further payments to farmers suffering from export losses.
“We do have a bridge payment we'll be announcing with you next week,” Rollins told President Donald Trump during a public cabinet meeting.
Rollins has been insisting that the administration would unveil a package to support farmers affected by tariff retaliation and trade losses after the government reopened following the recent shutdown. The administration has also moved more than $10 billion from a fund previously used to fund tariff assistance to the secretary’s office.
But Rollins also emphasized that the administration’s long-term project is to ensure that U.S. farmers can see profits without government assistance.
“Many of them have been farming for government checks instead of moving their product around the world,” Rollins told the president. She said recent trade pacts signed with U.S. trading partners will further that transition.
“These trade deals change that forever,” she said. “We're talking about selling more soybeans, selling more corn, getting more of our products out.”
Rollins also celebrated reporting last week that indicated China has suspended soybean imports from five Brazilian exporters after finding pesticide-treated wheat in cargo destined for China.
“What that means is a continued signal that this country and our farmers produce the best, highest quality soybean, sorghum, etcetera, in the world,” Rollins said.
Trump also publicly thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping during the cabinet meeting, noting that the pair had “a great meeting” in South Korea last month, and saying that Chinese buyers have since placed “one of the largest purchases” of soybeans ever seen.
China has bought a confirmed 2.3 million tons of soybeans since the week of the meeting, according to Agriculture Department data. In the same period in 2024, Chinese purchases almost reached 7 million tons.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., told Agri-Pulse Tuesday that an announcement on tariff assistance could come in the next two weeks. Rollins and USDA officials have been working with lawmakers on the design and parameters of tariff assistance, he added.
Don’t miss a beat! It’s easy to sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! For the latest on what’s happening in Washington, D.C. and around the country in agriculture, just click here.
“They're visiting back and forth,” he said, adding that “Secretary Rollins is doing a good job of taking the lead.”
But questions remain over the potential scale of a package. Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden said earlier this month that the trade landscape had changed significantly since October, citing new deals with China and Southeast Asian nations. He noted that higher crop prices may force USDA to reevaluate the scale of assistance.
“We've hit 15-month highs in soybean prices because of the deals that have recently been cut in Asia,” he said. “That's going to need to be taken into account for any aid payments,” he told Red River Farm Network.
Boozman, however, told Agri-Pulse that the administration should be cautious about major recalculations based on the latest price movements.
“You have to look at the big picture because a lot of producers have already sold the crop,” he said. “So that doesn't really benefit them.”
“I think that probably will be a factor,” he added, “but there are lots of other factors also.”
House Ag Committee member Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., was also skeptical of any efforts to scale back assistance.
"You can always seem to find enough money to buy another missile, but we've got to squeeze a dollar out of a rock to help our farmers," Van Orden told Agri-Pulse Tuesday. "I fundamentally disagree with that. So, whatever we need to do, at whatever level we need to do it to make sure that the American farmer can prosper, that's what we need to do. It's pretty simple."
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
