AFBF Advocates for Further Trade Discussions with China
David Salmonsen
Senior Director, Government Affairs
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
The American Farm Bureau Federation is encouraging U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to take a closer look at trade with China. Chad Smith has the story.
Smith: The trade relationship between the U.S. and China remains critically important for American agriculture. Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said there has been some progress between the two nations recently.
Salmonsen: President Trump and President Xi of China came to a deal back on October 31, for one year, going to delay any new tariffs. They reduced some tariffs by about ten percent, several purchase commitments by China for U.S. ag products, and those port fees, which had gone into effect fairly recently, those were delayed a year.
Smith: Farm Bureau recently submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office encouraging further discussions regarding previous agreements with China.
Salmonsen: Which means they look into the issue, they gather information, and at the end of the day, they could decide we can use this when we're having continuing negotiations. And we pointed out that China did not fulfill that Phase One agreement that was signed in ‘20. They didn't remove all of the non-tariff trade barriers. We let them know that those were things that needed to continue to be worked on.
Smith: Salmonsen says there have been some positive developments in the last several weeks.
Salmonsen: It's a multi-year commitment headed off by soybeans. So, they said, for 2025, they would purchase up to 12 million metric tons of soybeans, and they have been purchasing some. And for the next three years, they said they will purchase 25 million metric tons a year.
Smith: Chad Smith, Washington.
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