Rollins Touts UK Breakthrough as Opening Salvo in Trump-Era Ag Trade Push
USDA secretary says London deal cracks open long-closed markets, challenges “fake science” blocking U.S. beef and poultry, and signals aggressive global trade tour ahead
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins used a wide-ranging interview on The Will Cain Show to frame the Trump administration’s UK trade agreement as a turning point for American agriculture — one she says could reset global market access after decades of frustration for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
Speaking from Dallas, Rollins said her May trip to London made her the first Trump cabinet official to visit the UK during the administration’s second term and coincided with the announcement of what she described as the first new trade agreement of President Donald Trump’s current term. The deal, she argued, opens the door for expanded exports of U.S. beef, pork, poultry, rice, ethanol, wood pellets, mollusks, corn, and soybeans.
“We’ve been trying to get a deal with the UK for 25 years,” Rollins said. “President Trump and the team do it in a matter of weeks. It’s a new day for American agriculture.”
Challenging Europe’s “Non-Tariff Barriers”
A central theme of the interview was Rollins’ sharp criticism of European restrictions on U.S. agricultural products, particularly beef and poultry. She rejected claims that American food safety practices justify limits on imports, calling them examples of “non-tariff trade barriers” designed to shield foreign producers from competition.
Rollins pushed back on long-standing European objections to hormone use in beef and chlorine treatments in poultry, arguing those claims rely on “fake science and unsubstantiated arguments.” She emphasized that U.S. farmers produce “the safest, the most secure, the best food in the world,” and noted that only about 5% of U.S. poultry undergoes chlorine processing — an approach already reviewed and approved by U.S. regulators.
“Don’t use these fake, non-scientific, non-tariff trade barriers to keep our products out,” she said, adding that such practices have disadvantaged U.S. agriculture for decades.
Trade as Economic and National Security Policy
Beyond the UK, Rollins outlined an ambitious international travel schedule aimed at expanding export markets, including planned trips to Italy, Vietnam, Japan, India, and South America. The effort, she said, is part of a broader strategy to realign USDA around farmers and ranchers while embedding agriculture more deeply into U.S. economic and national security policy.
She linked farm exports directly to American sovereignty, arguing that reliance on foreign food supplies — from countries such as China or Brazil — undermines U.S. power and resilience.
“If you can’t feed yourself, you lose your place in the world as a superpower,” Rollins said. “That’s what the President is working to change, and that’s what I’m working to effectuate on his behalf every single day.”
A Broader Reset for U.S. Agriculture
Rollins also framed the trade push as part of a wider overhaul of USDA priorities, emphasizing support for small family farms and a shift away from policies she said contributed to market losses during the Biden administration. While tariffs remain a focus, she argued that dismantling non-tariff barriers may ultimately matter more for long-term market access.
Taken together, her remarks portray the UK deal not as a one-off win, but as the opening move in a broader Trump-era strategy to reassert U.S. agricultural dominance — commercially, diplomatically, and strategically — across global markets.
