Author: Leah Douglas
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Thursday she would consider direct payments to farmers to offset losses from proposed tariffs, following the approach taken in Trump’s first term.
If confirmed, Brooke Rollins (NYSE: ) would lead the $200 billion agency and its nearly 100,000 employees whose broad scope includes food and commodity programs, farm lending, forestry and trade.
Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports in his first term resulted in retaliatory tariffs on soybeans. The administration then paid out billions to farmers to compensate for the losses.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on China, as well as Mexico and Canada.
Rollins said at her nomination hearing Thursday before the Senate Agriculture Committee that she spoke with Sonny Perdue, Trump’s first-term agriculture secretary, about how the agency handled the trade war.
“We’re ready to do something like that, if it’s approved, if it’s confirmed,” she said, later adding, “we can’t reinvent the wheel.”
Some senators on the committee disputed the approach.
“What we hear over and over again from our farmers and ranchers is that they want to be able to do business. They want to be able to export. They don’t want to solve this problem by getting aid,” said Michael Bennet, a Democratic senator from Colorado.
