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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.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/37235887-93a0-4222-b2cd-57843b6c1472

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/senate-democrats-question-usda-about-data-errors-staff-losses-2026-08-20/

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/senate-democrats-question-usda-about-data-errors-staff-losses-2026-08-20/

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https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/senate-democrats-question-usda-about-data-errors-staff-losses-2026-08-20/

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/senate-democrats-question-usda-about-data-errors-staff-losses-2026-08-20/

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/senate-democrats-question-usda-about-data-errors-staff-losses-2026-08-20/

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.

原油进口成本上升 日本连续三个月出现贸易逆差

2026年8月20日 16:16 / 联合早报

日本7月连续第三个月出现贸易逆差。图为8月20日，日本首都东京一个工业港口的工人将集装箱装载到货船上。 （路透社）

受原油等商品进口成本上涨影响，日本7月贸易逆差达6345亿日元（50.85亿新元）。这是日本连续第三个月出现贸易逆差。

新华社报道，日本财务省星期四（8月20日）公布的初步统计结果显示数据显示，7月日本出口额11.51万亿日元。当月进口额同比增长27.8%至约12.15万亿日元，连续六个月增长，且连续两个月创历史新高。其中，原油进口额达1.41万亿日元，同比增长87.8%。

受中东局势影响，霍尔木兹海峡通行受阻，日本加紧从其他地区采购，原油进口成本上升。

三井住友银行（SMBC）日兴证券公司高级经济师宫前耕也指出，受原油价格上涨影响，日本贸易逆差态势或将延续，预计2026年全年贸易逆差规模可能超过5万亿日元。

原油进口成本上升 日本连续三个月出现贸易逆差

2026年8月20日 16:16 / 联合早报

日本7月连续第三个月出现贸易逆差。图为8月20日，日本首都东京一个工业港口的工人将集装箱装载到货船上。 （路透社）

受原油等商品进口成本上涨影响，日本7月贸易逆差达6345亿日元（50.85亿新元）。这是日本连续第三个月出现贸易逆差。

新华社报道，日本财务省星期四（8月20日）公布的初步统计结果显示数据显示，7月日本出口额11.51万亿日元。当月进口额同比增长27.8%至约12.15万亿日元，连续六个月增长，且连续两个月创历史新高。其中，原油进口额达1.41万亿日元，同比增长87.8%。

受中东局势影响，霍尔木兹海峡通行受阻，日本加紧从其他地区采购，原油进口成本上升。

三井住友银行（SMBC）日兴证券公司高级经济师宫前耕也指出，受原油价格上涨影响，日本贸易逆差态势或将延续，预计2026年全年贸易逆差规模可能超过5万亿日元。

North Korea launches ballistic missiles as Trump seeks to rekindle nuclear talks with Kim Jong Un

Updated on: August 20, 2026 / 6:15 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

Seoul— North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul’s military said Thursday, hours after President Trump said he would meet again with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un later this year.

The latest launches by the nuclear-armed North came after Mr. Trump ordered a reduction in the ongoing joint South Korea-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, which are now set to end Friday.

Pyongyang has long condemned U.S.-South Korean exercises as rehearsals for an invasion, often staging missile test launches during and around the drills.

Mr. Trump said he made the decision to scale back the war games “based on my very good relationship with” Kim. He said the longstanding annual military exercises sent a “totally inappropriate and hostile signal” to the North.

South Korea’s lack of assistance in the war with Iran was also a factor, he said.

South Korean soldiers take part in an anti-terror drill at a hotel in Seoul on Aug. 19, 2026, on the sidelines of a major South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise named Ulchi Freedom Shield. Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty

The president said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.

Officials in Seoul said Thursday that North Korea now has between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads, and they couldn’t explain the discrepancy between their estimate and Mr. Trump’s.

Just hours after Mr. Trump said he expected to meet again with Kim, an official from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told the AFP that the North had fired “around 10 short-range ballistic missiles” from the Pyongyang area.

People watch a news broadcast showing file video of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 20, 2026, after the North fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles, according to South Korea’s military. Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty

Japan earlier said a suspected “ballistic missile launched by North Korea a short while ago has already fallen,” according to an X post from the prime minister’s office.

Mr. Trump’s sudden focus on Kim and his scaling back of the joint drills with South Korea have alarmed Asian allies, sparking speculation that he may be seeking a foreign policy win as the Iran war grinds on in a costly stalemate.

Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, said Wednesday that her brother had “good memories and feelings” about Mr. Trump and that the relationship between the two leaders remained “excellent.”

She said, however, that she was unaware of any current communication between the two leaders.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/hr-mcmaster-reacts-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un/
H.R. McMaster reacts to Trump apparently pushing for meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un 05:16

Mr. Trump met three times with Kim during his first term, lauding his relations with the authoritarian leader but failing to get him to make any solid commitments to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, which has advanced steadily since.

Her statement came hours after Seoul announced the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises would end on Friday — about a week earlier than planned — “at the suggestion of the U.S. side.”

The Pentagon said the reduced drills would cause “no degradation to U.S. training objectives.”

The exercises are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea.

The United States has about 28,500 forces stationed in South Korea to bolster the country’s defenses — a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Seoul remained opposed to officially recognizing the North as a nuclear-weapon state, something Kim has long sought.

Asked whether Washington had “given up” on North Korea’s denuclearization, Ahn said he did not believe so.

President Lee Jae Myung, who has long pushed for stronger homegrown defenses to reduce South Korea’s reliance on the United States, said Wednesday that he would “do his utmost” to support Mr. Trump’s peacemaking efforts with the North.

美国年轻人日益警惕AI 忧技术进步剥夺大量工作

2026年8月20日 16:37 / 联合早报

人工智能已走进各行各业，美国加利福尼亚州这个农场就使用人工智能和其他技术管理奶牛，包括为它们挤奶和梳理毛发等。 （法新社）

（华盛顿彭博电）调查显示，美国最年轻的劳动群体对人工智能（AI）的疑虑正日益加深。他们担心，这项技术的进步将导致大规模失业。

根据皮尤研究中心6月份进行的调查，美国30岁以下成年人中，有55%对AI技术的担忧多于兴奋。这是自2021年皮尤展开这项调查以来，这一比率首次过半。

这与大多数其他年龄群体的态度趋于一致。30岁以下劳动者本是最看好AI潜能的一群人，现在却成了最警惕AI的群体。

如今，这一群体中有近四分之三认为，AI将导致就业机会减少，占比高于两年前的61%。

这项调查凸显美国年轻人与AI之间的复杂关系。他们能够熟练使用这项技术，但与此同时，这项技术也威胁着初入职场的他们需要的初级职位。

整体上，有超过半数受访美国人对AI感到担忧。不过，已在职场站稳脚跟的人对AI的看法则越来越正面，这为AI对经验丰富者有利的观点提供支持。

目前，AI对美国招聘的影响仍有待观察。有迹象显示，初级岗位招聘已开始放缓，一些企业高管也公开说，他们正用AI取代部分人力，以节约成本。

特金会深圳APEC峰会登场？北京称不掌握信息不做评论

2026年8月20日 16:05 / 联合早报

美国媒体报道，美国总统特朗普可能在11月于深圳举行的亚太经合组织（APEC）领导人峰会期间，与朝鲜领导人金正恩会晤。图为金正恩（左）与特朗普2019年6月30日在板门店朝韩边境非军事区进行历史性会面。 （法新社档案照）

对于法新社引述美媒报道称，美国总统特朗普探讨在今年11月于深圳举行的亚太经合组织（APEC）领导人峰会期间与朝鲜领导人金正恩会晤，中国外交部对此表示，中方不掌握具体信息，不做评论。

中国外交部发言人林剑星期四（8月20日）在主持例行记者会受询时说：“关于你提到的朝美接触的事宜，我不掌握具体信息，对此不做评论。”

《华尔街日报》星期二（8月18日）引述美国官员报道，特朗普近期私下积极探讨在下一趟亚洲之行期间与金正恩会面，希望与朝鲜的核谈判能取得比第一任期更大的进展。目前白宫尚未正式启动会晤筹备，但11月亚太经合组织领导人峰会是潜在契机。

不过，朝鲜劳动党副部长、最高领导人金正恩的胞妹金与正星期三（8月19日）说，完全不知晓朝美领导人之间曾有任何沟通。她指出，尽管朝美领导人之间“私人关系良好”，但美国仍是朝鲜国家安全的最大威胁，美方对朝敌对政策没有任何改变。

特朗普去年10月亚洲巡访时也曾尝试与金正恩会面，并公开释放会晤意愿。据报道，平壤当时私下表达开放态度，但因准备时间不足，最终未能成行。

美国年轻人日益警惕AI 忧技术进步剥夺大量工作

2026-08-20 16:37 / 联合早报

人工智能已走进各行各业，美国加利福尼亚州这个农场就使用人工智能和其他技术管理奶牛，包括为它们挤奶和梳理毛发等。 （法新社）

（华盛顿彭博电）调查显示，美国最年轻的劳动群体对人工智能（AI）的疑虑正日益加深。他们担心，这项技术的进步将导致大规模失业。

根据皮尤研究中心6月份进行的调查，美国30岁以下成年人中，有55%对AI技术的担忧多于兴奋。这是自2021年皮尤展开这项调查以来，这一比率首次过半。

这与大多数其他年龄群体的态度趋于一致。30岁以下劳动者本是最看好AI潜能的一群人，现在却成了最警惕AI的群体。

如今，这一群体中有近四分之三认为，AI将导致就业机会减少，占比高于两年前的61%。

这项调查凸显美国年轻人与AI之间的复杂关系。他们能够熟练使用这项技术，但与此同时，这项技术也威胁着初入职场的他们需要的初级职位。

整体上，有超过半数受访美国人对AI感到担忧。不过，已在职场站稳脚跟的人对AI的看法则越来越正面，这为AI对经验丰富者有利的观点提供支持。

目前，AI对美国招聘的影响仍有待观察。有迹象显示，初级岗位招聘已开始放缓，一些企业高管也公开说，他们正用AI取代部分人力，以节约成本。

韩国军方：朝鲜向海域发射不明飞行器

2026-08-20 16:45 / 联合早报

7月3日，朝鲜海军驱逐舰姜健号在某秘密地点进行作战系统评估测试，其中包括试射一枚战略巡航导弹。 （路透社）

韩国媒体引述韩国军方消息称，朝鲜向朝鲜半岛东部海域发射一枚不明飞行器。

路透社报道，韩国军方星期四（8月20日）说，朝鲜至少发射了一枚“不明飞行器”。

法新社报道，日本首相府在社交媒体X平台上发布消息称：“朝鲜发射了一枚疑似弹道导弹。”

此前，韩国联合参谋本部8月6日在发给各新闻机构的声明中称：“朝鲜向半岛东部海域发射了不明飞行器。”

韩国联合参谋本部8月12日发消息称，朝鲜从江原道元山一带向东部海域发射一枚弹道导弹。导弹飞行距离达到700公里以上。

韩国军方：朝鲜向海域发射不明飞行器

2026-08-20 16:45 / 联合早报

7月3日，朝鲜海军驱逐舰姜健号在某秘密地点进行作战系统评估测试，其中包括试射一枚战略巡航导弹。 （路透社）

韩国媒体引述韩国军方消息称，朝鲜向朝鲜半岛东部海域发射一枚不明飞行器。

路透社报道，韩国军方星期四（8月20日）说，朝鲜至少发射了一枚“不明飞行器”。

法新社报道，日本首相府在社交媒体X平台上发布消息称：“朝鲜发射了一枚疑似弹道导弹。”

此前，韩国联合参谋本部8月6日在发给各新闻机构的声明中称：“朝鲜向半岛东部海域发射了不明飞行器。”

韩国联合参谋本部8月12日发消息称，朝鲜从江原道元山一带向东部海域发射一枚弹道导弹。导弹飞行距离达到700公里以上。

Experts slam ‘flawed’ Trump administration Census report on alleged noncitizen voting

2026-08-20T08:00:29.099Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/20/politics/flawed-census-report-alleged-noncitizen-voting

Former Census Bureau leaders, statisticians and voting-rights advocates are raising alarms about an unusual, unsigned new report posted on the agency’s website that claims tens of thousands of noncitizens voted in the 2020 presidential election.

President Donald Trump touted the results Tuesday on Truth Social, saying the bureau had proved that more than 24,000 noncitizens illegally voted in 2020 after analyzing 128 million individual voter records.

“I WON THE ELECTION!” Trump wrote, repeating his unsubstantiated claim that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 race. He predicted the number would “explode” once analysts processed the remaining 32 million voter records.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department oversees the Census Bureau, later posted, “It’s just the beginning,” predicting the next analysis “will likely show tens of thousands of additional illegal voters.”

Even if the report is accurate, 24,000 votes would amount to less than 0.02% of the roughly 160 million ballots cast in 2020. Joe Biden won the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes.

The findings fall well below Biden’s victory margins in the most closely contested states:

• Arizona: 1,100 alleged noncitizen votes; Biden won by 10,457
• Georgia: 400 alleged noncitizen votes; Biden won by 11,779
• Wisconsin: 500 alleged noncitizen votes; Biden won by 20,682

The report also does not — and cannot — say which candidates those voters supported because ballot selections are secret.

The disputed findings come amid growing concern about political pressure on the Census Bureau, which has traditionally been led by career statisticians and operated independently of the White House.

Earlier this year, the administration installed a group of partisan analysts from the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute inside the Census Bureau, according to three former bureau officials who served under Trump. AFPI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Census Bureau, Commerce Department and White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The administration has intensified its effort to find evidence backing Trump’s longstanding claims of widespread voter fraud. In a primetime address last month, Trump cited a trove of newly declassified documents to claim the US election system has gaping vulnerabilities that leave future contests open to foreign interference and widespread noncitizen voting.

The Census Bureau analysis compared a commercial voter database with federal records from the IRS, Social Security Administration, State Department and Department of Homeland Security, according to the document released Tuesday.

The commercial data came from Data-Clear, a Virginia-based firm that received a $649,500 federal contract in 2024 to obtain voter registration data, federal records show.

Analysts used the Census Bureau’s system for linking the records, searching for individual voters who match noncitizen records in the federal government databases.

Tuesday’s report, dubbed a “beginning analysis,” immediately raised red flags among former senior Census Bureau officials. Publishing such a document without named authors or contributors is highly unusual, they said, and could indicate that career staff were sidelined.

John M. Abowd, the bureau’s chief scientist from 2016 to 2022, told CNN the report’s statistical finding is too small to distinguish from routine matching errors and claim as definitive proof of noncitizen voters.

Record-linking systems can produce false matches, even when they are well designed, he said. The 24,000 noncitizen matches represent about 0.019% of the 128 million records that were analyzed.

“None of the professional researchers that I knew or worked with at the Census Bureau would make such a claim from that study,” Abowd said. “Professional researchers would have reported that result and given it some context.”

Former Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, who held the role from 2022 until resigning in the first days of Trump’s second term, described the publication as an obvious “hijack by the White House.”

“I was shocked and dismayed that a document of this sort – and I refuse to call it a report – would appear on a Census Bureau website,” Santos told CNN. “It is clearly a product of White House and Department of Commerce analysts.”

He said another “fatal flaw” of the analysis is that it rests on a faulty assumption: that federal, state and local records are completely accurate.

Voter files often contain outdated or incorrect information. Those problems may have been worse during the Covid-19 pandemic, when election offices faced shutdowns, staffing shortages and other disruptions.

“There’s every reason to believe that the quality of the data that’s being used is highly suspect, because it was not business as usual when those data were being developed,” Santos told CNN.

A typical bureau analysis would spell out those caveats and limitations, the former officials said. Tuesday’s document did not.

Lutnick’s department has taken on a growing role in Trump’s push to root out alleged voter fraud and reshape federal election rules. He stood beside Trump in the Oval Office as the president signed an executive order in March directing his administration to compile state-by-state citizenship lists and ordering the Postal Service to step up scrutiny of mail ballots.

Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he was working with Lutnick to use federal funding as leverage to pressure states to adopt Trump-backed election reforms.

“Meaning that if these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to run federal elections, they’re going to have to implement security issues,” Mullin told reporters.

The administration has increasingly tapped federal databases to bolster its search for noncitizen voting. Last month, Mullin claimed DHS had reviewed public voter rolls and found more than 250,000 potential noncitizens registered across New Jersey, Nevada, California and Pennsylvania — a figure some officials in those states disputed, demanding details about how DHS calculated it.

“It’s the same old story of using flawed databases and ways to generate a storyline that the president will like, but actually doesn’t align with reality,” said Andrew Walchuk, Policy Director and Counsel for Voting and Fair Representation at Common Cause, a non-partisan voting-rights advocacy organization.

Walchuk called the latest Census Bureau report a “farce” intended to undermine trust in elections.

The voter information that Data-Clear obtained from states and provided to the Census Bureau included dates of birth where available but not Social Security numbers, Data-Clear’s President Carolyn Carlson told CNN.

Experts questioned whether the analysis of that data contained enough specific information about individual voters to guard against false-positive results.

Trump’s Justice Department has sued 30 states in an effort to obtain unredacted voter records, including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, but has been repeatedly rebuffed by the courts. The states fighting the DOJ cite federal and state privacy laws that they say protect voters’ personal information.

Carlson said the firm had no control or input into how the Census analyzed the data the firm provided and referred questions about the report’s findings to the agency.

Michael McDonald, an elections expert at the University of Florida, said the numbers cited in the Census report likely include people who are in fact US citizens. “We should treat these 24,000 as allegations, not as definitive proof of noncitizens,” he said.

“Election officials know that there are pitfalls in the data where individuals may be alleged to be a noncitizen but are actually indeed a citizen, and they can provide proof of their citizenship,” he said.

Typically, local election officials will reach out to the voters to give them an opportunity to provide evidence that they are qualified to remain on the voting rolls before removing their names, he added.

“This alleged analysis based on Census data fails the laugh test,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who now oversees the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research. “Census data cannot be reliably matched to public voter data, as it lacks any unique matching identifiers to compare to those public voter records.”

CNN’s Ethan Cohen contributed to this report.