On his third day as Secretary of Agriculture, newly confirmed Sonny Perdue visited a USDA facility in Kansas City designated as a “devolution” facility if something were to happen in Washington, D.C.
“If we needed to get out of DC, we would come here and continue the operation service of USDA. It’s an honor to be in Kansas City,” said Secretary Perdue following his visit with the facility’s roughly 1,500 employees.
The first questions from reporters in the room revolved around President Donald Trump’s phone calls with country leaders and subsequent tweets about NAFTA, the trade agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
“The ultimate outcome is what we’re interested in,” said Perdue. “Mexico and Canada’s agreement to come to the table quickly to renegotiate this years-old trade affair will be helpful to producers of all kinds in America.”
Perdue said Trump recognizes NAFTA has been mostly beneficial to the agriculture industry, but the president’s message is that the agreement needs to be retooled.
“Certainly in fruits and vegetables and those kinds of things, it’s a deficit. [The president] believes certainly in a country that’s abundantly producing as America is, we should have a surplus and he’s determined to get that,” said Perdue.
“This is a president that’s going to fight for American. I think it’s time we stood up for ourselves and fought for Americans and American producers. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have agreements, that we shouldn’t have friendly trade negotiations. Certainly, Mexico can do some things better than we do. Canada can do some things better that we do, and that’s the essence of trade,” said Perdue.
