John Hoeven Asks USDA Nom About Helping Farmers Through ‘Short-Term Disruption’ Of Trump’s Tariffs

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During Tuesday’s Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing, Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) questioned Luke Lindberg, nominee to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, about the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on U.S. agriculture.

Transcript

00:00Senator Hough. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to welcome

00:05both of you. And Mr. Lindbergh, I understand you have ties based on the esteemed Senator

00:15from Vermont making references to your ties in the New England area of the country. But

00:21really now we consider you at Dakotan. And so we're very pleased not only to see you

00:27here and your wonderful family. And I want to welcome all of your family. And also the

00:32Governor and First Lady, thank you for being here. Great to see all of you. And Mr. West

00:39Hill as well, your family. Great to see them here as well. My first question is for you,

00:45Mr. Lindbergh. Undoubtedly you are a South Dakota State Jackrabbits fan. And of course that's

00:51a very big rival to the North Dakota State Bison. And so if you are confirmed for this position,

00:56are you going to be able to set that rivalry aside and be fair to the North Dakota farmers

01:02and ranchers as well as all of our other great ranchers and farmers across this country?

01:08I will. Very good. All right. The other questions

01:11are going to be easier. No doubt about it. Go Yotes. Oh really? Get the coyotes. All my

01:19Jacks fans at home, go Jacks. But go Yotes. All right. I got you. Well, we've got a great

01:24school to both the University and North Dakota State. And we're great rivals. And of course

01:28if the South Dakota teams win, I always root for them as they go on to the national playoffs.

01:33Thank you. Okay. First question is the CCC, commodity

01:37credit corporation, is an incredibly important tool that we need and we use for our farmers

01:43and ranchers in a lot of different instances. One of which was the MFP back during the first

01:48Trump administration when we were taking on China in regard to tariffs and other trade issues.

01:55Do you feel it's important, an important tool and that we continue to keep it as an important

02:00tool for agriculture? I do. Okay. The next one is sugar program is a huge industry

02:07in our state. Our ranking member just left, but also Tina, Senator Smith is on this committee.

02:13That's probably north of $3 billion industry, family-based farms in North Dakota, Minnesota.

02:19Probably not as much in South Dakota. Incredibly important business, businesses and ag sector

02:27for our state. The sugar program is incredibly important and it goes directly, it's absolutely

02:35aligned with what President Trump's trying to do and make sure that we don't have unfair

02:40trade practices, we don't have dumping into this country that wipe out our domestic industry.

02:45So do you support the sugar program and that it's enforced strictly? I do. Okay. As far

02:55as trade, and you may have said some of these in your opening remarks, I apologize I wasn't

03:00able to be here. Your sense of how we work through, we all want a level playing field, right?

03:08We share the goals and objectives of the Trump administration in terms of getting better terms

03:14for our producers, for our exporters, as well as helping our economy here at home. Talk about

03:19how we, you're going to help us work through the short-term disruption to get to the long-term

03:25goals that we all share. Yes. Thank you, Senator. I appreciate that. And what I believe is that,

03:32as Secretary Besant mentioned this morning, there are trade deals on the horizon in the short run

03:37here. And that we will see new market access generated through President Trump's negotiations.

03:46And I look forward to the boon that will come to our family farms when we get those trade deals

03:51signed in the not too distant future. The president has also made very clear through a post he put out

03:57on social media, that he will have the farmers and ranchers backs should there be a need for that

04:03at that time. I believe that that will not be necessary at this moment. But certainly I will

04:08follow the president's direction that should that be needed in the future, we'll be there to support

04:11them. Okay. And if you had a substantial dialogue with USTR already, and talk to Jameson Greer about,

04:20you know, how you can work to effectuate better terms for our producers.

04:25So I don't think that'd be appropriate for me at this stage to have those substantive discussions.

04:31Ambassador Greer and I served as chief of staff. He was at USTR and I was at XM in the first Trump

04:36administration. We built a relationship through that. And so I look forward to having regular

04:41communications with Ambassador Greer and his team.

04:43Yeah, he's a very impressive guy. His approach is spot on. He absolutely saw it. He's got a great

04:50staff. And so I really, I think working together, you guys can be a great deal. My final question

04:58is in regard to the farm bill. In the opinion of myself, and I think others on this committee,

05:06we have to have affordable crop insurance. And we have to update ARC PLC reference prices and have

05:14a viable counter cyclical safety net, though I know you're going to be discussing trade agreements,

05:19along with MAP and the FMD program. Do you share agreement with that approach on behalf of our farmers

05:28and ranch? I certainly would love to utilize the MAP and FMD program to open up vast new market

05:33opportunities for our farmers and ranchers. All right. And out of respect for my time,

05:38Mr. Westfield, I'll save my questions.

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