U.S. news website Axios reports that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was part of the briefing team last week that convinced President Donald Trump to reconsider withdrawing the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, known as KORUS. Axios reports that Trump's withdrawal from KORUS was much more than a serious consideration, it was as close as it gets to a done deal, stalled by senior level staff who raised concerns that the President had not been fully briefed on the consequences of his decision.
Perdue was joined by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis who made a national security case against withdrawing from the agreement. This would be the second trade agreement Perdue helped sway the President away from terminating. Perdue met with the President as Trump was intending to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement in April, before choosing to renegotiate the agreement.