Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says they’re hopeful the coronavirus outbreak in China doesn’t inhibit the Phase One trade deal purchase goals for this year. “Travel has been disrupted and I think the last number I saw was 46 million people sheltering in place in China during their Lunar New Year,” he says. “It’s obviously going to have some ramifications economy-wide.”
But, he says, they’ll have to wait and see the full impact of
the virus. “The honest answer is we just
don’t know yet,” he says. “But we’re
hoping for a very quick conclusion.”
Perdue made his comments during a call with reporters on
Wednesday while traveling to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy to meet with
his counterparts on important issues facing agriculture.
