Special — Following her meetings last week in the United Kingdom, Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins expressed optimism, but added that more needs to be done to bolster the presence of United food products in British markets.
Following Trump’s statement of rough new taxes for American trading partners in April, Rollins led a U.S. delegation to the U.K. last year, just weeks after President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled the foundation for a new bilateral trade deal. This year, U.K. leaders are in Washington to continue their discussions with Rollins and another administration officials.
The agreement, which the White House praised, represented major benefits for American farmers in several ways. The agreement particularly includes a new, duty-free buy quota for the U.K. of 13, 000 metric tons of British beef and a guarantee to start a dialogue regarding hygiene standards for different imported food and agricultural commodities.
Prior to trade talks with the U.S., U.K. officials had previously stated that any changes to the rules for food imports, particularly those that affect American chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef, were off the table.
Rollins stated to the Washington Examiner at the White House on Tuesday that both the federal government and exporters from the private sector must improve how they communicate to British consumers regarding the safety of American food products.
” The safety of our food and the sanitation of our food were the subjects of a lot of questions, especially from the press. Numerous screams of inquiries are directed at me regarding chlorinated chicken, etc. She continued, noting that only 5 % of American poultry is washed with chlorine. While I was there, I continued to try to disprove some of these myths, which is why I did a lot of press.
Rollins did mention that producers and other players in the private sector should be a part of that messaging strategy, not just the federal government.
Our farmers and ranchers have the best, most reliable, and safest supply of food the world has ever known, but we’re not good at telling our story, she continued, noting that” building out that infrastructure to keep pushing that message out into the world is going to be very important, especially in the coming two to three to four months as all these trade deals come together.”
The USDA’s Foreign Market Development Program had a running budget of just over$ 27 million for fiscal 2024, but Trump’s most recent budget proposal suggested cutting its budget by 18 % as part of a larger 23 % proposed cut to all non-defense spending.
TRUMP SAYS HOUSE GOP:” DO NOT F*** AROUND WITH MEDICAID.”
Rollins stated to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that the USDA would continue providing FMD assistance in the wake of the administration’s efforts to “open up U.K. markets,” but he also emphasized the “efficient” use of those funds.
She stated,” What we need to do is make sure those programs are effective, that they are spending taxpayer dollars wisely, and that we are actually opening up markets.” There is a lot of money in the system right now, and one of my and our team’s jobs is to make sure we’re realigning it to [assist producers ] is that.
