Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the administration is still assessing the full impact of likely trade losses and the size of a potential aid package.
"We're still analyzing," Rollins told reporters at the White House. Asked how much assistance the administration is considering, Rollins said, "we still don't know. I mean, there still are so many unknowns as the negotiations are continuing."
The U.S. tariff landscape continues to evolve by the week. Just this month, new sector-specific tariffs on lumber have gone into effect, both the U.S. and China have implemented new port fees on each other's ships, and President Donald Trump floated additional 100% duties on China over Beijing's expansion of export controls on rare earths.
His top trade officials have suggested the U.S. could delay those tariffs if China delays its own rare earth measures.
Rollins pointed out that the administration is also still negotiating with partners to lower trade barriers to U.S. ag products, leaving the ag trade landscape up in the air.
"We're going to have a couple of announcements next week on some good news, on some additional product moving out - our row crop commodities moving out - into the world," she said.
Rollins said the administration has also been in contact with South American countries to increase their crushing of U.S. soybeans.
Rollins pointed out that the dust has still not settled on U.S.-China relation. A deal with Beijing that spurs Chinese buyers to resume U.S. purchases could also land at any time, she argued.
