Vilsack suggests ag trade deficit could be a message from China

China is buying fewer agricultural products from the U.S. this year in part because Beijing wants to send a “signal” to the U.S., Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said this week, suggesting the U.S. agriculture trade deficit is in part attributable to the drop in Chinese purchases. “This is an interesting statistic -- maybe it's just coincidental,” Vilsack told Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) during an April 16 Senate Appropriations agriculture subcommittee hearing . “Our trade deficit for the first three months...