U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue last week said the value of the 2019 trade assistance package for farmers could range from $15 billion to $20 billion dollars in 2019. That would make it larger than the 2018 package, which has so far provided nearly $9 billion in direct payments.

President Donald Trump dir­ected the U.S. Department of Agriculture to quickly develop the trade assistance package after talks with...