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Vilsack Changes Tune on the Import Tariff

In what was billed this morning as a major speech at the National Press Club, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled a laundry list of proposals designed to spur production and demand for biofuels. Along the way, he expressed the belief that “the [ethanol import] tariff is likely to continue but over time be phased out,” in conjunction with his call for a “fiscally responsible short-term extension of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit [VEETC].” Vilsack’s remarks put him at a great distance from where he stood four years ago when (as Governor of Iowa and a presidential hopeful) he offered surprisingly candid remarks on those very topics in a sitdown at the Council on Foreign Relations. Read More