Thune Leads Colleagues in Demanding the Biden Administration Increase Agricultural Exports
“A continued decline in U.S. agricultural exports is avoidable and unacceptable. The Biden administration must take immediate action to ensure this does not become a long-term trend.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.); John Boozman (R-Ark.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, today led 19 of their colleagues in urging U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to increase U.S. agricultural exports and improve the competitiveness of U.S. products abroad.
“We expect trade to fluctuate in response to macroeconomic factors and market conditions,” wrote the senators. “However, the current sharp decline in U.S. agricultural exports is directly attributable to and exacerbated by an unambitious U.S. trade strategy that is failing to meaningfully expand market access or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. While the Biden administration continually refuses to pursue traditional free trade agreements, China, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and others continue to ink trade pacts that diminish American export opportunities and global economic influence.”
The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds, (R-S.D.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
Full letter below:
Dear Ambassador Tai and Secretary Vilsack:
We write to express deep concern with the continued erosion of critical markets for U.S. agricultural exports. For decades, the United States steadily increased market access for U.S. food and agricultural products. We accomplished this feat through negotiations of actual free trade agreements, removal of technical barriers to trade, and holding our trading partners accountable to their commitments, all of which have helped strengthen the agriculture economy at home and developed important strategic relationships abroad. Yet, in the last fiscal year (FY) alone, U.S. agricultural exports declined by more than $17 billion, and recent forecasts show a further decline by more than $8 billion in FY 2024. As a result, the U.S. agricultural trade deficit is projected to reach a record $30.5 billion in FY 2024. This decline is unsustainable, and we urge the Biden administration to immediately take action to improve the competitiveness of U.S. agricultural products abroad and reverse this trend.
We expect trade to fluctuate in response to macroeconomic factors and market conditions. However, the current sharp decline in U.S. agricultural exports is directly attributable to and exacerbated by an unambitious U.S. trade strategy that is failing to meaningfully expand market access or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. While the Biden administration continually refuses to pursue traditional free trade agreements, China, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and others continue to ink trade pacts that diminish American export opportunities and global economic influence.
International trade is critical to the continued success of U.S. agriculture. For the 2023 marketing year, nearly 70 million acres of major crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat were planted to meet the demands of our foreign customers. Additionally, more than 95 percent of U.S. cotton produced, nearly 80 percent of almonds produced, and more than 70 percent of nonfat milk powder produced were destined for the export market in 2023. And in a typical year, half of U.S.-produced rice and 20 percent of U.S.-produced potatoes are exported. Diminishing access to foreign agricultural markets for U.S. industries creates significant economic headwinds and jeopardizes the livelihoods of more than one million American workers, farmers, and ranchers, as well as millions more U.S. jobs throughout the export supply chain.
With our concerns in mind, please respond to the following questions within 14 days of your receipt of this letter.
- What specific actions does the Biden administration plan to take to increase U.S. agricultural exports in 2024?
- Does the Biden administration intend to pursue new or improved free trade agreements with any countries to obtain new market access for agricultural products in 2024?
We further ask the Biden administration to take steps to analyze and consider the relationship between U.S. competitiveness and market share in foreign agricultural markets with negotiated tariffs, tariff rate quotas, and other market access provisions.
A continued decline in U.S. agricultural exports is avoidable and unacceptable. The Biden administration must take immediate action to ensure this does not become a long-term trend. Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
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I appreciate Thune’s and Round’s pro-American agriculture positions. I hope they are aware and oppose the “EATS act of 2023-2024” which is being dumped into the Farm Bill. It appears this act will allow federal government to overrule state and local government regulation of foreign owned operations in their areas. If our senators are concerned with US Agr they should do something about foreign owners domination of US Agr. For example Smithfield Foods/WH group is the largest US pork producer and processor. They are twice as big as the next producer which is Pipestone system. According to SwineWeb.com they have over 1 million sows in production, Pipestone has around 400.000. One million sows make a lot of babies in a year. Food is a national security problem.
I wish more people really understood this. . .
It seems to me that this whole issue began during the Trump Administration’s trade and tariff war initiated with China by Trump. The world’s two largest economies fighting it out with each other was bound to have a detrimental impact on our economy and the economy world wide.
The winners of that fight were bound to be Canada, South America, the UK, and others, at the expense of the economy of the U.S. The biggest impact, of course, hit the ag sector extremely fast, and is evident yet today.
Can this be fiixed? Yes it can, but it won’t happen overnight. It is an extremely lengthy and complex process.
I applaud the efforts of Thune and others in their attempt to resolve the issue, but I believe they need to understand why and how the issue began in the first place, and vow to not let it happen again.
The Trump economy was booming until covid. Trump compensated farmers when he put tariffs on China. This economy is all on Biden and the over spending legislature..
His trade wars paid for by us taxpayers compounded the supply chain issues from covid that we are still feeling the effects of today. He printed 2/3 of the cash and gave the ultra wealthy tax incentives and payments that triggered one of the largest transfers of wealth from the bottom to the top in our nation’s history. Biden didn’t help the cause by adding more, but Trump built the foundation for the downfall. And now, investments in America are bringing us back. All these poor repubs simping for the wealthy because they have dreams of being them is laughable at this point. Trickle down economics hasn’t worked in 50 years and a bunch of poor and uneducated people are blaming immigrants and low level workers because they have their heads up the wealthy’s rear.
My father said it best, there are 12 cookies on a table. A rich man, a poor man, and an immigrant are sitting at the table. The rich man grabs 11 cookies and turns to the poor man and says, “Are you going to let that immigrant take your cookie?” That is where the republican party is today. Send Trump another check.
Trump gave out 3 trillion. Biden gave out 1.9 trillion. Good thing we forgave those ppp loans and gave citizens a few $600 checks. More welfare for the wealthy on top of those Trump tax breaks. This economy is booming compared to where Trump was going to lead us. He said it best, the economy always does better under democrats. He just knows it’s easier to grift with Republicans.