2026-08-20T10:04:25.526Z / 路透社
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2026年8月20日 美国东部时间上午10:04 更新于1小时前
2025年4月23日，美国华盛顿特区农业部总部外景。路透社/乔纳森·恩斯特 购买授权
- 内容摘要
- 六名民主党参议员在8月19日的一封信中要求提供美国农业部的数据程序细节，路透社审阅了该信件
- 议员们要求美国农业部详细说明自特朗普重返白宫以来的人员流失情况
- 参议员们警告称，不可靠的数据可能会扭曲关税、贸易执法和肉牛市场
芝加哥8月20日路透电 — 美国参议院民主党议员周三晚间要求美国农业部解释该机构上月大幅高估牛肉出口销售额的原因，以及部门人员流失在此次失误中扮演的角色。
由明尼苏达州民主党议员、参议院农业、营养和林业委员会 ranking member（注：应为少数党资深议员）艾米·克洛布查尔牵头的六名参议员，致信美国农业部副部长米歇尔·贝克林，要求提供有关美国农业部数据程序的细节。此前，农民、谷物商和投资者对该机构发布的影响市场走势的数据的担忧与日俱增。
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7月，美国农业部公布美国周度牛肉出口销售额飙升近500%，但一周后将该数据下调90%，并称这是“一起孤立的流程问题”。
此次牛肉出口销售额数据错误是一系列可疑的美国农业部报告中的最新一起。此前，特朗普政府重塑联邦政府期间出现人员流失，引发了各界对数据质量的担忧。
去年夏天，美国农业部推迟发布一份报告，并排除了指出关税是农业贸易逆差预计增长原因的调查结果，此后分析师们对该机构的数据完整性提出了担忧。
今年年初，行业经济学家和农民对美国农业部的报告准确性提出质疑，此前该机构对美国玉米种植面积进行了大规模的意外修正。此次修正促使发布种植面积预估的美国农业部国家农业统计服务局启动内部审查。
交易员和分析师此前就对牛肉出口数据提出质疑，因为数据显示美国对部分国家的牛肉销售额是这些国家历来从美国采购量的数倍。此次数据错误正值消费者面临牛肉价格飙升之际，同时肉类加工厂因美国肉牛群规模达到数十年来最低水平而关闭了牛肉加工厂。
路透社审阅的这封日期为8月19日的信件显示，议员们要求了解此次错误的成因以及未来防止报告问题的措施。
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议员们还要求美国农业部解释其数据如何用于制定联邦关税政策并评估贸易协定进展，以及详细说明自唐纳德·特朗普总统重返白宫以来的人员流失情况。
议员们表示，对美国农业部数据可靠性的质疑并非新鲜事，但数据错误问题可能产生更广泛的连锁反应。
“此类问题出现时，可能会对肉牛行业各个层面的下游市场以及消费者造成影响，”参议员们在信中写道。“对这类数据的信任侵蚀不仅会破坏国内市场，还可能进一步损害美国与其贸易伙伴的关系。”
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卡尔·普卢姆在芝加哥报道。P.J. 赫夫斯塔特和桑吉夫·米格拉尼编辑
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Senate Democrats question USDA about data errors, staff losses
2026-08-20T10:04:25.526Z / Reuters
EXCLUSIVE
By Karl Plume
August 20, 2026 10:04 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago
A general view of the U. S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Purchase Licensing Rights
- Summary
- Six Democratic senators seek details on USDA data procedures in August 19 letter reviewed by Reuters
- Lawmakers ask USDA to detail staff losses since Trump returned to White House
- Senators warned unreliable figures could distort tariffs, trade enforcement and cattle markets
CHICAGO, Aug 20 (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Democrats asked the Department of Agriculture late on Wednesday to explain what caused the agency to vastly overstate beef export sales last month and what role department staff losses played in the mistake.
Six senators, led by Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, sent a letter to USDA Deputy Under Secretary Michelle Bekkering seeking details about USDA’s data procedures amid growing concerns among farmers, grain merchants and investors about market-moving data produced by the agency.
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In July, the USDA reported a nearly 500% jump in weekly U.S. beef export sales before revising the figure down by 90% a week later, calling it “an isolated processing issue.”
The beef export sales error was the latest of a series of questionable USDA reports amid concerns about data quality after staffing losses during the Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government.
Last summer, analysts voiced concerns about agency data integrity after the USDA delayed a report and excluded findings that pointed to tariffs as a reason for a forecasted increase in the agricultural trade deficit.
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And early this year, industry economists and farmers raised questions about the accuracy of USDA reports after the agency issued massive unexpected revisions to U.S. corn acreage. These revisions prompted USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, which releases acreage estimates, to launch an internal review.
Traders and analysts had cast doubt on the beef export data because it included sales to some countries that were several times larger than those countries had ever purchased from the United States. The data error came as consumers grappled with soaring beef prices and as meat packers have shuttered beef plants amid the smallest U.S. cattle herd in decades.
The lawmakers sought information about what caused the error and measures being taken to prevent reporting problems in the future, according to the letter dated August 19, which was reviewed by Reuters.
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They also asked the USDA to explain how its data is being used to shape federal tariff policies and assess progress on trade deals, and to detail staff losses since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The lawmakers said that questions about the reliability of USDA data are not new, but that problems with data errors can have broader ripple effects.
“When issues like this arise, it can cause downstream market impacts at all levels of the cattle industry, as well as consumers,” the senators wrote. “An erosion of trust in this data would not only undermine domestic markets but could also lead to further damage in U.S. relationships with our trading partners.”
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Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago. Editing by P.J. Huffstutter and Sanjeev Miglani
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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