President-elect Joe Biden turned to former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to reprise his Obama administration role as U.S. agriculture secretary, according to two people familiar with the decision, tapping a Farm Belt politician with deep ties to rural America.
Vilsack has been a proponent of international trade who criticized President Donald Trump’s tariff war with China and has shown a willingness to build consensus with agricultural interests. He is well-known both to Biden and farm groups. As agriculture secretary for eight years, he was Barack Obama’s longest-serving cabinet member.
