Perdue Again Pledges Help For Farmers On Trade

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue told CNBC that President Donald Trump will not force farmers to suffer from ongoing trade battles. "The president has told me to tell [farmers] that he's not going to allow them to bear the brunt of these trade disruptions and to make a plan for mitigation unless we are unable resolve the trade issue," he said.But when pressed for specifics about timing or how the government would help farmers, Perdue declined to comment.Perdue reiterated that USDA is calculating the economic impacts to agriculture on a weekly basis, with USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson in charge of that effort. However, Perdue still said he was not willing to specify what those calculations are revealing.While the issue will potentially come more into focus should the U.S. and China move ahead July 6 with tariffs on $34 billion in goods from each other, the questions will only increase on Perdue to spell out what kind of help farmers can expect.