The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in line with Secretary Rollins’ Farmers First agenda, has announced it will not authorize any additional imports of specialty sugar beyond what is required under existing international trade commitments.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Alexander Vaden emphasized the difficult conditions currently facing American agriculture. “Natural disasters, economic policies from the previous administration, and steep increases in production costs have severely impacted farmers,” he said. “Compounding the issue, trade policies over the past four years have largely benefited foreign competitors at the expense of U.S. producers, resulting in what is expected to be the largest agricultural trade deficit in history.”
Vaden added that while sugar policy is specifically structured to shield domestic producers from the influx of heavily subsidized foreign sugar, sugar farmers continue to feel the strain experienced across the broader agricultural sector. “In the past two decades, sugar imports have more than doubled, causing U.S. producers to lose around 15% of the domestic market. This decline has led to the shutdown of mills and processing facilities—losses that ripple through rural economies and affect both farmers and consumers,” he said. “This move by the USDA is a step toward correcting that imbalance.”
