Jun. 4 at 2:42 PM
Politico: Trump admin officials delayed & redacted a USDA report b/c it predicts an increase in the nation’s trade deficit in farm goods later this year
The prev forecast, published in Feb, projected a deficit of
$49B for FY25, an increase from the Nov 2024 report. The new analysis revises the projection to a record
$49.5B
The politically inconvenient data prompted Trump admin officials to block publication of the written analysis normally attached to the report b/c they disliked what it said about the deficit
Republicans used the quarterly report’s rising trade deficit projections during the Biden admin to accuse then-AG Secretary of not doing enough to promote US farm exports
A USDA spokesperson blamed the delay on an internal review
--- A closer look shows that the report also shows that US Real GDP growth rate has been revised down from +2.7% to +1.8%
Also, inexplicably, the value of ag exports by region/country shows no changes from Feb f/cast to May f/cast
$DBA $FXI $SPY