U.S. Official: Fixing Ag Trade Will Take Time

The Trump administration’s effort to hammer out better trade deals with China, Mexico, Canada and other importers of U.S. ag products will help increase export demand over the long term and improve farmers’ access to markets. That’s the message two high-ranking federal officials delivered during recent visits to Iowa.

Gregg Doud, chief ag negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative, said he understands that the agriculture industry is apprehensive about the future of trade. “But we want to get this right for the long term,” he said at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.

Doud told farmers to prepare for retaliatory tariffs on U.S. ag products like pork and soybeans, which could mean billions of dollars in lost revenue. He said the problems U.S. trade officials are working on are complex and will take time to fix.

Doud also said the key issues with China are tied to intellectual property and the future of high tech.

“Much of this is multifaceted and complicated, and doesn’t have anything to do with agriculture. But unfortunately, agriculture gets dragged into it,” he said.

It’s also important for the U.S. to try to end China’s trade distorting ag policy practices, which include China heavily subsidizing its farmers, building huge commodity stockpiles that depress world prices, and using non-scientific barriers to block imports. China fails to approve biotech crop traits in a timely manner, and recently imposed stricter foreign material restrictions on U.S. soybean shipments than on beans from Brazil.

“I understand the nervousness and sensitivity…,” he said. “But you need to understand we have to look at this from five or 10 years down the road. If we don’t get more discipline in what’s going on in Chinese agriculture and trade, the problems will only get worse.”

Source: Wallaces Farmer