President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 22 announced he will nominate Stephen Alexander Vaden to be deputy secretary of USDA under Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins.
Vaden, 42, was general counsel (GC) at USDA during Trump’s first term in office. As Trump noted in his post on Truth Social, “He won two cases before the United States Supreme Court, relocated and reorganized the Agencies that comprise the Department to better serve Rural America, and engaged in substantial regulatory reform. Stephen joined the USDA on Day One of my First Term, and left in December 2020 after I nominated him, and the U.S. Senate confirmed him, to continue to serve the American People as an Article III Judge on the Court of International Trade.”
Vaden resides in Union City, TN, where he helps manage his family farm, Trump noted.
Vaden has a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt and a law degree from Yale.
Rollins, in a social media post, cited, “Judge Vaden’s resume speaks for itself: Yale Law, former GC of USDA, and now a Judge on the Court of International Trade—a lifelong appointment he now gives up to serve as the next Deputy Secretary of USDA.
“But more important than any accomplishment on his extensive resume is his deep understanding that American greatness is a direct function of American agriculture—and, as Lincoln said, USDA is ‘The People’s Department’ and ought to be run as such.
“I look forward to building the best team in the Department’s history alongside Stephen and delivering every day for our American farmers.”
As a judge for the U.S. International Court on Trade, Vaden oversaw the case involving 19% countervailing duties placed on phosphate imports from Morocco. While it took more than a year to hand down a decision, Vaden’s decision was among the factors that led the Commerce Department to lower tariffs on phosphate imports from Morocco. He noted the decision to hand down the tariffs in 2022 didn’t factor in that domestic suppliers of phosphate had closed facilities, which decreased fertilizer production domestically.
Vaden also cited in that ruling that abnormally high rainfall in the Mississippi River basin starting in 2018 strained barge movements and caused a large decrease in demand for fertilizer, which negatively impacted prices and inventories. Once normal weather patterns resumed, prices rose and inventories fell.
Before the holidays, Rollins had been making her rounds on Capitol Hills visiting with senators. Politico reported recently that she visited with seven senators on Dec. 18 and had been in touch with more than 20 lawmakers. — Chris Clayton, DTN ag policy editor
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