July 1, 2026 | Supply: Axios | by Alex Isenstadt
Tensions over pesticide use erupted in an Oval Workplace assembly final week, as a prime agriculture lobbyist warned President Trump that an government order calling for pest-killing alternate options would value Trump assist from farming pursuits.
Why it issues: The confrontation, which one attendee known as “surprising,” uncovered a pointy fault line in Trump’s coalition — the push by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA motion to scale back typical pesticides vs. farming pursuits decided to protect them
- Each side see the talk as existential: MAHA argues pesticides are making Individuals sick, whereas the agricultural trade says limiting their use would elevate meals costs and value farmers billions of {dollars}.
Zoom in: The long-running combat got here to a head throughout Thursday’s tense assembly within the Oval Workplace.
- Trump, HHS Secretary Kennedy, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall met to debate a pesticide-focused government order that Trump would signal later that day.
- White Home aides additionally joined, as did Kennedy Chief of Employees Stefanie Spear.
- Kennedy’s workforce was already on edge over a Supreme Court docket ruling earlier that day that handed the pesticide trade a significant authorized victory by making it more durable to sue producers over alleged well being dangers.
