The USA Rice delegation, led by Chair Keith Glover (second from right) at the White House, meeting with Adam Donoho, senior ag advisor with the National Economic Council
Aug 21, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC — Members of USA Rice’s Executive Committee were here in Washington this week for a series of high-level meetings with senior Trump Administration officials to discuss trade priorities critical to the U.S. rice industry.
The delegation met with officials at the National Economic Council, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden for timely discussions around the importance of leveling the playing field for the U.S. rice industry. The U.S. rice industry is battling illegal subsidies and market manipulation practices from bad actors not only in key international markets but in the domestic market as well. Foreign rice imports into the United States have doubled in the last decade with a record 1.46 million MT in 2024.
“The U.S. rice industry is facing many challenges at home and abroad,” said USA Rice Chair Keith Glover, who led the DC delegation. “At a time when the U.S. farm economy is at a critical low, we need to have markets to sell our rice. Unfortunately, rice is one of the most protected commodities around the world with key global players, like India, illegally subsidizing farmers and dumping their excess rice in the global market creating a price race to the bottom from other exporting countries.”
The meetings also served as an opportunity to emphasize to Administration officials the important role of rice manufacturing to rural communities across the South and California. All major rice-producing states rely on rice exports to bring economic growth to local communities contributing more than $34 billion to the U.S. economy annually and providing jobs for more than 125,000 people in the United States.
Glover continued, “The Trump Administration has taken the right steps to begin leveling the playing field, but more needs to be done if the U.S. rice industry is going to remain a competitive player in the global market. We support the Administration’s efforts to finally hold India, China, and others, accountable for the years of illegal subsidies and market manipulating policies, acts, and practices.”
The delegation also discussed Canada’s 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on U.S. rice imports, the Dominican Republic’s CAFTA-DR violations and the need for further clarification in recently announced trade agreements with the UK, Japan, and South Korea.