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Perdue’s #1 wish

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says his number one wish for U.S. farmers is for a resolution of the trade war with China, “A magnificent conclusion to the U.S. China negotiations that will involve doubling and tripling our former exports to China.”

Speaking to reporters at Commodity Classic, Perdue said trade ramifications are tough for farmers but they have to deal with them, “They deal with uncertainty. That’s their life. They’re going to have to deal with another fact of uncertainty whether there’s a trade deal or not. But, the fact is, it’s kind of like in basketball, if you don’t shoot your don’t score, if you don’t plant you don’t have anything to sell.”

Perdue says a deal could result in China buying a bigger variety of ag commodities.

But, Perdue was careful not to promise too much, “I don’t want to raise expectations because it’s never over in negotiations until it’s over. I think it’ll be over very successfully when President Xi and President Trump meet or it’ll be over very detrimentally when they meet.”

President Trump and Chinese President Xi will meet later this month.