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USDA trade aid details coming Monday

U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says details of the $12 billion-dollar trade relief package will be released Monday.

During a trip to upstate New York Thursday, Perdue said the plan to help farmers hurt by trade disruptions was being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.

“The methodology of how you get there is the way we would go to the WTO and issue a tariff complaint against these other countries for illegal retaliatory tariffs.  We’d have to prove what the tariff damage is, and that’s the methodology we use.”

Farmers for Free Trade deputy director Angie Hoffman says they’ve talked to rural Americans from across the country about the trade aid package, and the reaction has been almost unanimous that they want contracts not compensation.

Producer sign-up for the trade relief program is expected to start sometime after Labor Day.

 

*audio courtesy of USDA*