WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2016 - President-elect
Donald Trump has taken steps needed to get his administration up and running at
USDA, EPA, and other agencies important to agriculture. There has been little
evidence, however, that Trump is close to naming an agriculture secretary or
appointees to run those other agencies.
On
Monday, Trump announced leaders of his domestic agency “landing teams,” groups
that will work with existing officials to coordinate the handover of power and
pave the way for the appointed officials who will eventually take over the
agencies.
Joel Leftwich, Republican staff
director for the Senate Agriculture Committee, was assigned to lead the transition effort at
the Department of Agriculture, a possible sign that Trump’s USDA
will work closely with Capitol Hill and agriculture interests. There’s no one
in Washington more familiar than Leftwich with the new GMO disclosure law.
Implementation of the law will arguably be the most important item on the new
agriculture secretary’s to-do list.
Other transition advisers also are notable because of what
their involvement may signal about the administration’s policy approach. The
Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Myron Ebell, a leading climate skeptic and
critic of the Renewable Fuel Standard, will be leading the transition at EPA.
Meanwhile, a leading proponent of the Cuba embargo, Mauricio Claver-Carone, was
assigned to the transition team at the Treasury Department. He is executive
director of Cuba Democracy Advocates and runs the U.S. Cuba Democracy PAC.
Trump has named two transition
advisers at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office: Trade lawyer Robert
Lighthizer and former steel executive Dan DiMicco, who advised the Trump
campaign on trade policy.
Lighthizer, a deputy U.S. trade
representative during the Reagan administration and an aide to then-Sen. Robert
Dole, has been representing heavy manufacturing, agricultural and high-tech
companies, according to his firm’s bio.
DiMicco, former CEO of Charlotte,
North Carolina-based Nucor Corp., told the Charlotte Observer in June that he urged Trump to keep
saying what he had been saying about U.S. trade policy. “He needs to hold the
world accountable to playing by the rules,” DiMicco said.
A number of names have been floating
around Washington as possibilities for agriculture secretary, but filling the
position is thought to be low on the list of Trump’s priorities. For
comparison, President Obama didn’t announce his nomination of Tom Vilsack as
agriculture secretary until Dec. 17, 2008, six weeks after the election.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin could be
in the running for Interior Secretary. She met with Trump on Monday, and a
readout of the meeting released by the transition office said she and Trump
“engaged in a conversation surrounding Native American affairs” and also
“touched on critical issues around increasing energy independence including
alternatives for energy consumption.”
Meanwhile, no one believed to be a potential agriculture
secretary has been identified publicly as having met with Trump, although
sources tell Agri-Pulse that Charles
Herbster, who chaired Trump’s agricultural advisory committee, met with the
President-elect shortly after the election. One member of Trump’s agricultural
advisory team who has been following the process emailed Agri-Pulse:
“Think Ag is down the food chain a bit.”
#30
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