USDA Employees Return to Work and Chinese Tariffs on Canada
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**An independent commission says thousands of USDA employees terminated by the Trump Administration will return to their positions, for now.
Bloomberg Law says the Merit Systems Protection Board found reasonable grounds to believe USDA violated civil service laws when it fired over 5,000 probationary employees.
Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, although some of them are still long-time federal workers.
**For the 17th time in the last 18 months, the Rural Mainstreet Index dropped below 50 in February to a concerning 38, down from 42.3 in January.
The RMI ranges from 0 to 100, with 50 being growth-neutral status.
Only 9% of bankers surveyed anticipate positive outcomes resulting from President Trump’s tariff policies.
Creighton University’s Ernie Goss says the economic outlook for grain farmers looks bleak for 2025.
**China recently responded to the U.S. increasing tariffs by increasing retaliatory tariffs on American imports, and now, is turning its attention to Canada.
China implemented tariffs on more than $2.6 billion worth of agricultural and food products from Canada.
Reuters says the move is retaliation against levies Ottawa introduced in October.
The tariffs could be a warning shot as the Trump administration showed it may be willing to ease 25% duties on Canadian and Mexican goods.
