U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Demands President Trump Release Details on Secret Agriculture Deal with Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin is demanding that President Trump immediately release the details of the deal he announced with Mexico to increase American agricultural exports.

On Saturday, June 8, President Trump tweeted that “Mexico has agreed to immediately begin buying large quantities of agricultural product from our great patriot farmers.” However, the administration has not released any information on this claim and there are concerning signs that no new agreement to increase agricultural exports to Mexico exists. On Monday, at a news conference in Mexico City, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard denied the existence of an agricultural element to the agreement. Foreign Minister Ebrard elaborated that Mexico didn’t “immediately begin” to do anything different with regard to American agricultural products. Additionally, on Tuesday, Trump’s top agricultural trade staff told the House Agricultural Committee that they had no details on the President’s supposed agreement with Mexico and could not explain Trump’s claim that Mexico would immediately begin buying large quantities of American agricultural products. 

In her letter to the President, Senator Baldwin writes,

“You have claimed that your recent deal with Mexico on migration provides certain benefits to Wisconsin farmers. They need the full details of the agreement in order to inform the many decisions they must make that affect their livelihood and business. If your agreement guarantees Mexican purchases, that information ought to be available publicly so that Wisconsin farmers can factor that into their production decisions for this growing season.

“Farmers in Wisconsin, the Midwest, and across the country have faced enormous challenges because of your haphazard approach to tariffs and trade wars with our trading partners. Dairy farmers have been hit particularly hard by retaliatory tariffs and in Wisconsin over 1,500 dairy farms have gone out business since you took office. Our Wisconsin dairy farmers and cheesemakers deserve honesty and the secrecy surrounding your claims should end. I’m asking that you either immediately disclose the details of an agreement by Mexico to purchase increased agricultural products or announce that such an agreement was never in fact reached.”

The full letter is available here.