Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 5/12/18

Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers he is taking steps to tackle Canada's milk pricing program, which U.S. dairy farmers would like to see killed in NAFTA 2.0, Adam reports. Canada, for its part, has fiercely defended its long-standing supply management system for the dairy industry, which caps production and restricts imports as a way to stabilize farmer income.

"We continue to press Canada on these high priorities for the United States," Lighthizer wrote in an April 26 letter to lawmakers obtained by POLITICO. "The administration is also committed to maintaining the markets our dairy farmers currently have in Canada and Mexico."

Can't forget about China: The Trump administration is working to protect the agricultural industry amid rising trade tensions with China both through direct talks with Beijing and the use of government support, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday.

Ross told members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that agriculture "featured quite prominently" in trade discussions with the Chinese delegation in Beijing that he participated in last week, Pro Trade's Megan Cassella reports.

However, he did not offer specifics of how the administration would act to help farmers beyond saying that Trump had told Perdue "to use all of the powers that his department has to try to protect and help those industries."