Three months ago, my position was: This new tariff deal will be a lot of talk and little action. So far, that has been the case; however, this could change in the blink of an eye. Even what is written today could be old news by the time this ink dries. Nonetheless, there are some constants in the world trade that are going to be impacted. For now, however, the largest component of tariffs is uncertainty.

“Ag has changed yesterday, it’s changing today, and it will surely change tomorrow,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a speech to attendees at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Convention on April 12. “What has stayed the same for far too long are the broken systems in Washington, D.C. – including systems at the USDA that haven’t been updated in decades.”

American markets and industries are watching closely to see just how long President Donald Trump’s current trade war will last, with the biggest attraction being the standoff against China.

With a theme of “Dialing It In,” the 2025 Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) Business Conference drew inspiration from the steady movement of a sundial to encourage dairy producers to align their efforts with purpose and intention. In the opening session, three experts in the fields of geopolitics, markets and weather joined together to help dairy producers see the forces behind the unpredictable parts of agriculture.

The tariffs on beef proposed by President Donald Trump have added volatility and uncertainty to the beef industry. While the national beef herd is at its smallest size in over 50 years, demand for beef is good and prices are regularly breaking record highs. Enter the tariffs.