**Association of Equipment Manufacturers President Dennis Slater is expressing disappointment with the Trump Administration's decision to move forward with the majority of $50 billion in tariffs on imported goods from China.

Slater tells agrimarketing.com, AEM, and its 1,000-member companies, are extremely disappointed, saying the tariffs target vital parts and components used in equipment manufacturing, will drive up the cost of manufacturing, and risk many of the 1.3 million manufacturing jobs.

**President Trump has accepted the resignation of scandal-plagued EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

According to agweb.com, Pruitt has faced an array of ethical questions about his travel spending, security costs, dealings with industry lobbyists and misuse of government resources.

Despite the scandals, Trump’s been approving of Pruitt's efforts to reduce regulations the administration says curb business growth. Activists argue the cuts endangered the environment.

Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler assumed the acting administrator position Monday.

**Chinese importers have already stopped buying U.S. wheat, soybean purchases are expected to drop even further, and the ag sector is expecting the financial pain to increase exponentially for the duration of the President’s trade war with China.

Agri-Pulse reports, that trade war took a major step forward Friday as the U.S. officially began new tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods over China taking U.S. intellectual property and reducing the U.S. trade deficit.

China responded with new tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. goods.

 

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