Joe Biden signed zero new trade deals in four years – and American farmers paid for it with the worst agricultural trade deficit in history.
Now Trump has eight deals done and another wave of them coming.
Today the USDA announced the agricultural trade deficit has dropped from $43.7 billion to a projected $29 billion in fiscal year 2026 – and the man who built it isn't done yet.
How Trump's Trade Deals Erased 43 Percent of Biden's Agricultural Trade Deficit
American farmers spent generations selling more food to the world than the world sold to us.
That gap meant money, jobs, and dignity for rural communities across the country.
Biden walked in and blew that up.
By the time he left office, his own team projected the agricultural trade deficit would hit $50 billion – a record that didn't exist before he arrived.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins didn't mince words: "Joe Biden broke the agricultural economy, and President Trump is fixing it."
Under Secretary Luke Lindberg told Fox Business the story in plain numbers: "In the four years under President Biden, we ended up with a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit forecast that his team forecasted right before he left office just about a year ago."
His next sentence: "Now today, we've reduced that deficit to $29 billion."
Forty-three percent in one year.
The Eight Trade Deals Biden Never Made and American Farmers Paid the Price
Biden didn't stumble into a trade deficit – he chose it.
Not once in four years did his administration sign a meaningful trade deal that opened foreign markets to American farmers.
The world's fastest-growing economies – Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand – were right there waiting.
Biden left them untouched.
Trump walked in and started making calls.
Eight agreements on reciprocal trade are now done, with more coming in 2026.
The Malaysia deal – signed at the ASEAN summit in October – opened markets for American beef, pork, poultry, rice, dairy, and ethanol.
The Cambodia deal eliminated tariffs on 100 percent of U.S. exports.
The El Salvador and Guatemala agreements, signed in January, knocked out fumigation requirements and opened new channels for American grain, seafood, and meat.
Lindberg's USDA team then flew to Malaysia in January on a TRUMP mission – to put buyers and sellers in the same room and close deals.
"The president is opening the door," Lindberg said, "and it's our job to drive a bus through it."
How Lower Grocery Prices Follow a Shrinking Farm Trade Deficit
The USDA's plan doesn't stop at exports.
As American farmers gain overseas markets, domestic production goes up – and more of the food Americans buy at the grocery store gets grown right here instead of shipped from abroad.
Lindberg pointed to projected declines in agricultural imports, including fruits and vegetables, as American growers fill more of that demand themselves.
"Producing things locally, lower transit costs, all of that combines to get to what the president's goal and objective has been," he said – lower prices at the grocery store shelf.
That's a trade deal connecting directly to your kitchen table.
Biden's years of inaction didn't just hurt farmers in Iowa and Texas – they hit every American family that noticed their grocery bill climbing.
Trump Isn't Done
The USDA's forecast of $29 billion is actually conservative.
Lindberg said he's more optimistic than the numbers suggest – because the full impact of Trump's trade deals hasn't even hit the books yet.
One Malaysian restaurant group was so eager for American beef they invested in a U.S. processing plant to get their supply halal-certified before the new trade rules even took effect.
That's what winning looks like.
The goal isn't $29 billion.
The goal is a surplus – and Lindberg said plainly: "We're still on course."
Eight deals done, more coming, and a $21 billion gap already closed.
Biden had four years to do this and chose not to.
Trump has had one.
Sources:
- Rachel Wolf, "USDA credits Trump trade deals as agricultural deficit shrinks, farm sector gains ground," Fox Business, March 4, 2026.
- Luke Lindberg and Brooke Rollins, "U.S. Farmers Gain from Trump's Trade Agreements," The Hill, March 1, 2026.
- "Trump Administration Announces $12 Billion Farmer Bridge Payments," USDA, December 8, 2025.
- "Fact Sheet: The United States and Malaysia Reach an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade," Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, October 2025.
- "American Farmers, Producers, Industry Leaders, and Lawmakers Applaud U.S. Trade Deals with Southeast Asian Countries," Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, October 2025.
- Rep. Randy Feenstra, "Biden's Trade Policies Are a Disaster for American Farmers," October 2023.
- "In First 100 Days, Secretary Rollins Affirms POTUS' Economic Policy," USDA, April 29, 2025.