Trump Selects Brooke Rollins to Be Agriculture Secretary

by y Maegan Vazquez (Washington Post) Rollins runs the America First Policy Institute, which has largely stayed out of the spotlight but has made numerous proposals for the second term. -- President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has picked Brooke Rollins, a former Trump White House policy adviser, to serve as secretary of agriculture.

In his statement on Saturday announcing Rollins’s appointment, Trump highlighted her “practitioner’s experience” with agriculture, including pointing to her upbringing “upbringing in the small and Agriculture-centered town of Glen Rose, Texas” as well as her involvement in “guiding her four kids in their show cattle careers.”

The president-elect’s incoming agriculture secretary is also expected to play a role in shaping Trump’s plans for sweeping tariffs, which in his last term saw the American agriculture industry hit hard with huge countertariffs by allied countries and rivals alike.

Trump and his allies have also proposed making large cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is under USDA’s purview. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico: Rollins served as director of the Office of American Innovation and acting director of the Domestic Policy Council during the first Trump administration. Since her time in the White House, Rollins has co-founded and helmed the America First Policy Institute think tank, which played an influential role in the transition and has been referred to as Trump’s White House in waiting.

Rollins, who grew up on a farm, is a surprise pick for the role, with less experience in agriculture policy than those on Trump’s shortlist. Trump’s decision to tap her, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, came amid ongoing fighting over the role among his advisers, family members and powerful agriculture groups.

Southern agriculture groups will be boosted by the fact that Rollins is from Texas. She also has a degree in agricultural development. While GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill were surprised by the pick, she’s expected to have a fairly smooth Senate confirmation.

She will also have massive influence to shape agriculture policy and farm subsidies that serve as the foundation of the U.S. food system, which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is eager to overhaul.

In a statement announcing the decision, Trump seemed to signal that a major upheaval at USDA wasn’t in store. “As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country,” Trump said in a statement announcing the decision Saturday.

The agriculture sector will also lean on Rollins to moderate Trump’s plans to impose another wave of broad tariffs on China and other major agricultural trading partners. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill who represent farm states have grown increasingly wary of Trump’s push for more tariffs, after his 2018 trade war triggered crippling retaliatory tariffs against U.S. farmers. But it’s unlikely Rollins, a Trump loyalist who has praised his economic plans, will offer major resistance.

Powerful, conservative-leaning agriculture groups were hoping for Trump to tap an agriculture-friendly USDA chief, with strong experience to help them counter Kennedy’s influence. READ MORE

Excerpt from USA Today: Rollins was one of many speakers at the Republican National Convention. A conservative lawyer, she served as acting director of the White House's Domestic Policy Council in the final year of Trump's first term.

Before her time in Washington, Rollins, a Texas-native, served as an aide to then-Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry. She was also CEO and president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think-tank in the Lone Star State. READ MORE

Excerpt from Reuters: As agriculture secretary, Rollins would advise the administration on how and whether to implement clean fuel tax credits for biofuels at a time when the sector is hoping to grow through the production of sustainable aviation fuel. READ MORE

Excerpt from NPR: Originally from Texas, she graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development. She then got her law degree at the University of Texas school of Law.

The first Trump administration had to address the consequences of Trump's trade war with China and others, which resulted in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products leading to decreased farmer profits. The federal government did step in with some assistance to boost incomes due to the trade war, and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is possible Trump could also sign a second farm bill into law, a potentially trillion-dollar bill reauthorized every five years to provide farmer safety nets, programing, rural development and government nutrition assistance. The last farm bill was signed by Trump in 2018 and Congress has since failed to reauthorize it. READ MORE