Republican Senators Ask Biden Administration to Pursue New Trade Deals

A group of U.S. Senators sent a letter to the Biden administration asking them to start negotiating new trade agreements. Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman from Arkansas says agriculture has historically had more exports than imports, but that wasn’t true last year. “This year, the trade deficit will be bigger than last year. That indicates to me we’re not doing a good job of creating the markets we need,” said Boozman.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa says it doesn’t matter which trade deal the administration pursues, but the U.S. should be considering trade with different countries. “We’re losing out on opportunities. That’s why we’ve partnered together with many others to represent our ag interests and manufacturing bases in getting additional trade agreements considered.”

The letter was signed by several other Republican U.S. Senators from Tennessee, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas, South Dakota, Indiana and other states. Read the letter.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, agricultural exports help U.S. farmers/ranchers by providing sales of high-quality goods to our overseas customers. And as the article aptly points out, traditionally agriculture has generated a trade surplus which helps overall GDP. It allows our farmers and ranchers to use their resources in a more productive manner and spread operating costs, thus, offering more profit potential. When all of that occurs you can potentially sell more trucks. So, it is good to pursue new additional markets for our American agricultural goods. Diversification by developing new markets helps spread the risk of having too many of our trade deals in one basket. Support farmers/ranchers by supporting more trade deals – it’s good business for everyone!