Donald Trump eyes Iran as new market for US farm exports

US President Donald Trump said Iran could become a significant new market for American agricultural exports as his administration pursues negotiations with Tehran following recent military action while also announcing an additional 11 billion in relief for US farmersAt a White House dinner honouring American farmers Trump said the administration was preparing to expand agricultural exports to Iran and asked Congress to approve fresh financial assistance for producers affected by previous regulationsWe began and we have another one a new market coming up And thats called the lovely Country of Iran Trump saidDescribing Iran as a future customer for American farm products he added Theyre having a hard time with food and were going to be taking some of their money and well spend it and were going to be buying wheat soybeans and corn a lot of it And that process is going to be starting pretty soon Its going to be pretty big I think its going to be very bigVice President JD Vance has previously said Iran would be permitted to use frozen assets released by the United States to purchase American agricultural goods Iranian officials have not publicly confirmed such an arrangementTrump also urged Congress to approve an additional 11 billion in assistance for farmers saying the funding would compensate producers for losses caused by regulations under the previous administrationYesterday we also called on Congress to pass a supplemental funding bill that will provide 11 billion in relief towards specialty crops and helping our great agricultural producers rebound from the losses that they had due to the Biden administrations horrible horrible rules and regulations he saidAgriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will oversee distribution of the assistance Trump said adding Were going to be getting an 11 billion payment in relief to our farmersThe President argued that his administration had expanded overseas markets for American farm products He cited increased access for dairy exports to Europe Australian approval of US beef imports after more than 25 years and Chinas commitment to purchase American agricultural productsHe also highlighted domestic measures benefiting farmers including raising the estate tax threshold ending the federal electric vehicle mandate affecting farm equipment allowing yearround sales of E15 fuel and rolling back the environmental regulation known as Waters of the USTrump defended the administrations military action against Iran saying it had strengthened Washingtons negotiating positionWe had to go and make a Uturn he said Were going to have to journey down to the Islamic Republic of Iran because if we dont do it theyre going to have a nuclear weaponHe added We knocked the hell out of them And now were negotiating from a position of pure strengthDuring the remarks Trump also claimed the Strait of Hormuz had reopened to record levels of oil shipments and briefly said the United States would assist Venezuela following an earthquakeThe White House event brought together senior administration officials lawmakers and farm leaders including Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz governors senators and representatives from major agricultural statesDinner guests were served produceinspired dishes and received organic garden seeds and tomato jam prepared by White House executive chefs as giftsThe United States has long been one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat corn and soybeans American agricultural exports have frequently featured in US trade diplomacy with successive administrations using food exports as part of broader economic and foreign policy negotiationsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever