US and EU reach trade deal

USA Today

28-07-2025

On Monday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The U.S. has reached a trade deal with the European Union after President Donald Trump's weekend trip to Scotland. USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning talks about his reporting on farmers facing a fork amid the immigration crackdown. Israel pauses some military action in Gaza amid ongoing starvation concerns. USA TODAY National Correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry discusses a bipartisan push for a new women's history museum.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, July 28th, 2025. This is USA TODAY's The Excerpt. Today taking a look at the US Trade deal with the EU plus how immigration raids are impacting farms and their workers. And lawmakers across the aisle want a new Women's History museum.
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US has reached a trade deal with the European Union. President Donald Trump announced the deal yesterday, days ahead of a self-imposed August 1st deadline. He met with the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen during his trip to Scotland over the weekend where the pair discussed terms and came to an agreement.
The deal includes a 15% tariff on most European exports to the United States, similar to agreements struck recently between Trump and other major trading partners, including Japan. The levy is higher than the 10% rate sought by Europeans, but a reduction from the 30% Trump threatened to impose earlier in July. The agreement also includes $600 billion in EU investments in the US and the purchase of $750 billion worth of US energy.
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President Trump's immigration raids are hitting farms particularly hard. I spoke with USA TODAY national correspondent Chris Kenning for more. Chris, thanks for joining me.
Chris Kenning:
Thank you for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Chris, what are we hearing and seeing at farms around the country in this immigration moment?
Chris Kenning:
Across the country, we've seen these immigration raids, really broiling farms in farming communities, and there have been cases of worker shortages for at least temporarily and farmers who are worried about getting their crops picked. Early this month, we saw raids in California in the Central Valley areas that saw hundreds of folks detained and ranchers and growers and places like Texas and Vermont have also reported times when people weren't showing up for work. And so some farm groups are saying farmers are holding their breath, trying to keep things afloat, not knowing if their folks will show up or just be too afraid that the raid will happen, either the farm or in the city or town where they work. Right now, in places like the San Joaquin Valley, some folks are saying that labor is kind of holding steady, but everyone's on edge, really not knowing what's going to happen.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Chris, how many people on US farms actually lack legal status? And just help us understand really why foreign born workers are so critical to farmers.
Chris Kenning:
There's about 2.6 million people working on farms in the United States, roughly about 42% of them are thought to lack legal status according to the Department of Agriculture. That's actually down from 55% in 2001. So it's kind of declined some, but it's still a pretty sizable number. And if you talk to farmers, they'll say the reason's pretty simple. Congress has not been able to really address comprehensive immigration reform that could find ways to create legal pathways for workers that are here or provide more visas for guest worker programs. And they say the idea that American-born residents will take these jobs is just not realistic. Few people will apply for them, even fewer will stick with it. It's very physically demanding and tough work and so the bodies aren't out there. All these issues come together and then farmers have long dealt with this stuff and now the presence of these ICE immigration forces everywhere has really exacerbated the problem.
Taylor Wilson:
Chris, what did you hear from some of these migrant workers themselves about how they're facing this moment and what I'd imagine really is just an incredibly anxious time for them?
Chris Kenning:
So there's a lot of fear, a lot of consternation. People aren't going out as much. People are staying home, but the United Farm Workers officials that I talked to said people are going back just because they have to feed their families, maybe working fewer days, maybe staying in when they're not working. I talked to one gentleman named Gabriel who's a 42-year-old man. He's from Mexico. He works in California's Central Valley. He's worked eggplant, pumpkins, different crops, getting up before A.M. working a full day for about 16,50 an hour. And he said to the majority of his fellow workers are without papers. But while they're still working now, some are considering going home. And even folks who are here on H-2A visas are said to be considering not applying or just wondering if it's just getting too dangerous.
Taylor Wilson:
You mentioned the H-2A visa, Chris, can you just talk us through what the visa programs and legal paths actually look like for farm workers and what do advocates want to see change in this space?
Chris Kenning:
The H-2A program is a program that allows agricultural employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary or seasonal jobs when there's not enough qualified domestic workers. Right now, folks on those visas represent about 13% of the nation's farm workers. A number that's grown over the years. A lot of farmers have issues with it because it is very bureaucratic. It's expensive because farmers have to provide housing and they have to adhere to pay wage premiums, which is meant to keep those workers from pushing down wages for U.S. residents who do similar jobs. Farm worker advocates say it has problems too because it's linked to a certain employer. So a lot of times workers are stuck there and maybe more vulnerable to wage or housing abuses. That's one that people are calling for changes to perhaps to streamline it or make some changes that would allow for more folks to come in on these types of visas.
Taylor Wilson:
You touched on the Trump administration earlier, Chris. Where does the administration stand when it comes to farms specifically? And is there any sense that they understand some of the realities on American farms that you've outlined in this piece?
Chris Kenning:
The Trump administration in June said it was going to suspend farm enforcement and it reversed that. But Trump has cited the importance of farm labor several times, and they've talked about they're looking to make some kinds of changes. It's not clear exactly what those would look like. There's a bill in Congress that would create, among many things, would create a legal pathway for long-time workers, which is what a lot of both farmers and farm workers would like to see, rather than just having it apply to people who are coming for the first time. There's also been discussions by the agriculture secretary to make the H-2A program more efficient. We'll have to see what comes out of that. House Speaker Mike Johnson has told other media that larger immigration overhauls in Congress could face an uphill battle, so we'll have to keep an eye on that.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Chris Kenning is a national correspondent for USA TODAY. Folks can find this full story with a link in today's show notes. Thank you, Chris.
Chris Kenning:
Thank you so much.
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Taylor Wilson:
Israel will pause military action for hours each day in parts of Gaza and increase aid drops in the enclave as the country continues to face international pressure over reports and images of starving Palestinians. Aid groups have criticized Israeli leaders for months over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The country cut off supplies to the region at the start of March before reopening aid lines with new restrictions in May. In recent weeks, more than 800 people have been killed while trying to reach food according to the United Nations, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers, which we discussed here on the show last week.
Meanwhile, the World Food Program says a third of the population in Gaza is not eating for days. Beginning today, Israel will pause military action in a humanitarian area along the coast of Gaza for 10 hours at a time, from 10 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. local time each day. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.
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Lawmakers are renewing a bipartisan effort to build a Women's History Museum in Washington. D.C. I discussed with USA TODAY national correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry. Deborah, thanks for joining me.
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Thank you for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So what are these calls for a new Women's History Museum? What would this entail?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Actually, it's been an effort that's been going for years and years, but they've always renewed it. And this time, a bipartisan group of women from the Democratic Women's Caucus and the Republican Women's Caucus are actually urging one of the House committees to put some money behind it to actually fund the project.
Taylor Wilson:
Specifically who are the lawmakers involved here and just how rare is it Deborah, to see a bipartisan push like this?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Well, there's several lawmakers. There are some Republicans, including Kat Cammack, who's one of the co-chairs of Republican Women's Caucus and also Hillary Scholten and others who are part of the Democratic Women's Caucus. They got together and decided they wanted to push for this effort. In terms of rare, these days, as you know, there's a lot of partisanship on one side or this side of a lot of issues, but this was one of the few issues where women from both sides of the aisle said, we want to push for this together. So they've been doing that in the past, and again, they've continued to do that now.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, as you mentioned, Deborah, this is not the first we've heard of this. What related bills have we seen over the years and just what led up to this point?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
As has been the case with many museums, many of the Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and the Latino Museum as well, it's a process. So it's not just you vote for the museum and it's a go. There are different parts of it, including number one, establishing a museum, establishing perhaps a commission that will study it and see if there should be a museum. Another bill that has to push for having it on a National Mall. And then of course, you need to get funding. So there are always different pieces to it, and that's the same case here for the Women's Museum. There's been different measures along the way. Some of them passed, some of them haven't. It hasn't come through enough where they can say, we got a museum coming. So the women have pushed again to make sure there was some federal funding for the museum.
Taylor Wilson:
It makes sense. I mean, what hurdles might this effort still face?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Well, part of the challenge this Congress is that there has been a big push, particularly by Republican leaders to cut federal spending. So not just this program, but others are coming up against that. There is also some concern about the pushback from the Trump administration and Republican leaders to push back against diversity initiatives or anything that reflects or they think feel like it reflects that. In many of the cases, it's not just about people of color when they push back on diversity. Also, women and women's issues and women programs, women's museum is all about women. So there's concern about whether that too would fall into that category where they're pushing back.
Taylor Wilson:
Okay, and what's next for this conversation?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
It was earlier this month that they pushed for or sent this letter to the House Appropriations Committee, but there's also some talk or either some hope from both sides that they could have a meeting with President Trump to push for this, because along the way he's expressed some interest in supporting it, but he's also been part of the pushback against diversity. As for what's next, some of the women lawmakers are not only pushing their colleagues to support funding for the bill, but they're also hoping that they can get President Trump to step in and be a little more vocal about it and maybe use some of his clout to sway Republican leaders to back the funding. Representative Hillary Scholten from Michigan, who also happens to be a Democrat, says she welcomes the audience with President Trump so she can make sure he knows that it's important to support this museum and that if there's any time to do it, now is the right time.
Taylor Wilson:
We'll see what happens. Deborah Barfield Berry is a National Correspondent with USA TODAY. Thanks, Deborah.
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.