Trump Starts with Trade Deals, Stalls Regulations, Says Strain

By Don Molino

During his daily report on the Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain said President Trump has signed an executive order to begin new negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement and has taken early action to stall some of the last regulations put in by the previous admiration.

Strain also reports the president will be meeting with both the Canadian Prime Minister and Mexican President later this month. “When you look at the amount of business we do with Canada and Mexico,” said Strain, “those two countries alone total a larger amount than the amount of business we do with China which at last report was $40 billion in agriculture business.”

Commissioner Strain also says the president has suspended delays in regulations that have not taken affect in a new USDA rule that sets standards approved for livestock and poultry producers who believe they have been harmed by processors business practices.

The next major appointment at the US Department of Agriculture—after Sonny Purdue as Secretary—is expected to be the deputy secretary who is traditionally in charge of day-to-day operations at USDA.

Strain will be traveling back to Washington on Sunday in his role as president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture for their national legislative meeting that goes through the end of next week.  But the commissioner says he will be back in Baton Rouge in time for the start of the special legislation session which is now expected to get underway in early to mid-February.