[Prairie Farmer] China needs to walk the talk, and farmers can look for more farm bill details in next two weeks, Perdue tells Illinois farmers.When USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue addressed the delegate session of the Illinois Farm Bureau on Dec. 3, he didn’t mince words on what President Donald Trump’s negotiations with Chinese leader Xi Jinping means to the heartland.
"We want them to start buying our stuff and stop stealing our stuff," he said, to much applause from several hundred IFB members. "That’s really what it’s all about."
Perdue said he was excited about the weekend’s trade developments, where Trump agreed not to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods to 25% on Jan. 1, leaving them at 10%. And China agreed to purchase a "very substantial" amount of agriculture, energy and industrial goods, including soybeans, beef, oranges, pistachios and red wine.