In announcing leadership for Department of Agriculture agencies last week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue also announced the movement of Ray Starling from the White House to USDA. Agri-Pulse reports that Starling, who has served as a special assistant to the president for agriculture, will now serve as Secretary Perdue’s chief of staff. Starling will replace Heidi Green who is returning home to Georgia. Before joining the White House, Starling served as chief of staff for U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina. The news came the same day that Secretary Perdue announced new leadership for the Farm Service Agency and the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Former Missouri Agriculture Director and state FSA Director Richard Fordyce was appointed to the lead the Farm Service Agency, while Carmen Rottenberg was appointed to lead the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

A possible agreement between President Trump and China that would relax penalties on a Chinese telecom company could ease the agriculture tariff threats. Trump is talking with China to ease restrictions on ZTE, a smartphone company that shut down major operating activities last week after Trump’s seven-year export ban stemming from trade violations. A source close to the talks says a “mini-deal is in sight” that would give China relief for ZTE, and return to “status quo” for U.S. agriculture, according to the Hagstrom Report. China has threatened tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans and pork, and has slowed the importation of U.S. ag products by inspecting each export container. The threats stem from Trump’s steel and aluminum import tariff.

The farm bill may have enough votes in the House of Representatives for passage. Politico reports that as the bill is expected to be brought to the House floor this week for consideration, some senior Republicans think House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway has the votes to pass the bill. That comes as Democrats in the House have been urged to vote against the legislation by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Democrats remain opposed to the stricter work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program as part of the Republican-drafted farm bill. The bill must first pass through the House Rules Committee which will be considering some 100 amendments to the farm bill. The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday evening. Conaway met with President Trump last week, and Conaway says the President “supports his efforts,” despite some concern that the President would veto the bill, titled the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross gave testimony to a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday, during which trade with China was a key topic. Channel News Asia Dot Com says Ross hopes to reduce the differences between the two countries, in which hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce are at stake in a trade war. Ross led a delegation to Beijing last week to begin the effort to iron out those differences. He told the congressional subcommittee Thursday that “the differences are large.” A Chinese delegation will be in Washington D.C. during the week. Ross says U.S. officials presented a list of requested changes in China’s trade policies, going “product by product and quantity by quantity.” Agricultural goods featured prominently in the discussions. China responded with their own trade requests. Ross says President Trump has asked the Ag Department to figure out ways to help minimize the impact of Chinese tariffs going into effect on American agricultural products. “We’re well aware that it’s unfair to ask one industry to bear the brunt of retaliation to help other parts of the economy,” Ross says. “We’ll do our level best to resolve that problem.”

The Trump Administration is working against the clock to get the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations done in time for a vote during this year’s December session of Congress. If the Administration wants a vote this year, the deadline is this Thursday, May 17. Politico says Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s deadline makes it uncertain whether or not the NAFTA nation’s top trade negotiators will be able to push that new deal across the finish line because a number of unresolved issues are still on the table. Ryan also says the “promise of a deal won’t do.” He wants it on paper from the U.S. Trade Representative by May 17 for a vote this year. U.S., Canadian, and Mexican trade ministers have been meeting for the last four consecutive days as they try to iron out differences. Much of the recent discussions have centered on the automotive rules of origin issue. Some of the other complicated issues to deal with include the seasonal produce proposal, investor-state dispute settlement, and market access for dairy. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer tells lawmakers he’s taking steps to tackle Canada’s milk pricing program, which American dairy farmers want killed in NAFTA 2.0.

Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, says Congress will take up the farm bill debate sometime within the week. The House schedule has the week’s session running from Tuesday through Friday. The House Rules Committee has issued a notice that it expects to “grant a rule that may provide a structured amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018.” The Hagstrom Report says it’s not clear yet if Republicans have the required 215 Republican votes they’ll need to pass the bill. House Democrats say no Democrat will vote for the bill because of the changes it would make to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. After a meeting with President Trump at the White House on Thursday, House Ag Committee Chair Michael Conaway says he still doesn’t have the votes needed to pass the bill but will spend the weekend trying to convince more Republicans to vote for the bill. “We believe we’ll get there,” Conway says. “We’ve got several folks that are still reading the bill and coming to their own conclusions. We’ve got a lot of undecideds. I’ll be working with them over the weekend to get them where they need to be and provide them with the information they need to understand exactly what the bill does.”