Milling & Baking News - March 26, 2019 - 38

Export and Trade Issues

Perdue encourages grain industry
to help secure U.S.M.C.A. passage
Continued from Page 1

said, 'It wouldn't be good, Secretary Ross,' and he said to me, 'You
might want to come over to the White
House because that's what's being
discussed.'"
Mr. Perdue said he immediately
made his way to the White House.
He carried with him maps depicting
what states provided the margin of
victory for President Trump in the
2016 election.
A meeting was underway in the
Oval Office that included Mr. Trump
and some of his advisers. They had
been discussing NAFTA and a presidential memorandum for U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.
"I laid maps in front of him," Mr.
Perdue said. "He looked at them and
was rather proud of the geographical area he had won in the election
vote count. These red blocks on this
map, which represent most of America, I told him, 'are the people you're
going to hurt if we withdraw from
NAFTA. Mr. President, I would look
for another way.'"
Mr. Perdue said while Mr. Trump is
a forceful and determined leader, in

this case, being given good reason, he
changed his mind and opted to pursue
negotiation for a new agreement.
Mr. Perdue said he was optimistic

'I hope it doesn't devolve into
political pettiness as some things
do up there. It's too important.
You know it would be devasting if
we don't get this approved.'

-Sonny Perdue,
Secretary of Agriculture

SOSLAND PUBLISHING

Congress would approve U.S.M.C.A.
"I think it will be approved," he
said. "I hope it doesn't devolve into
political pettiness as some things do
up there. It's too important. You know
it would be devastating if we don't get
this approved.
"Along with that, we have a little

Perdue sees major gains
for U.S. ag if agreement
reached with China

ecretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue confirmed that China's trade negotiators
"have laid on the table some very attractive numbers" regarding prospective purchases of U.S. agricultural products during ongoing trade talks with the United
States. "But we are still in the negotiation phase, and I don't want to raise expectations
if we're not able to come to an agreement."
Mr. Perdue made this comment on March 18 during a meeting with the press following his address delivered to members of the National Grain and Feed Association during
its 123rd annual meeting, which was held in Amelia Island, Fla.
Mr. Perdue did indicate, though, that in addition to soybeans, China said it would
purchase large volumes of U.S. cereal grains and meat, including poultry.
Mr. Perdue was asked in view of a huge market for imported agricultural products
in China (China imports about $124 billion in food products a year, and before the
trade dispute with the United States, U.S. farm products accounted for about $20
billion of the total), if the United States should significantly increase its agricultural
exports to China through an agreement, what this would mean in terms of U.S. exports to other markets.
"I have asked the rhetorical question of U.S. producers, 'Has China become too dependent on us, or have we become too dependent on China?'"Mr. Perdue said.
In the case of soybeans, U.S. producers may have become overly dependent on China.
Mr. Perdue said the focus at the U.S.D.A. is to significantly broaden U.S. farmers' customer base throughout Asia and the rest of the world.
"While we're working to broaden that base, we certainly would welcome more demand from China," he added. MBN

38 / March 26, 2019

Milling & Baking News

string out there we have to take care
of, and that's the 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. Ever since the agreement
(U.S.M.C.A.) was signed, I've been in
Lighthizer's (U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer) ear, in Jared's
(Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the
president) ear and the ear of anyone
else I could get close to, to say that
those have to be resolved. Just a few
weeks ago, I met with the secretary of

agriculture from Mexico and the Canadian agriculture minister, and we
determined among the three of us that
those tariffs have to be resolved so all
three countries can pass a clear, clean,
good renewed NAFTA 2, U.S.M.C.A."
Mr. Perdue also stressed the importance of quickly concluding a free
trade agreement with Japan that is
equal to or better than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (T.P.P.). He said the U.S.
trade team understands that time is of
the essence.
"They understand the need to do
this quickly," he said. "They understand disadvantage our producers
will face as the T.P.P. begins to be implemented this spring."
Turning to the new farm act, Mr.
Perdue said he believed the legislation was mostly good and pointed to
provisions that addressed key grain
industry concerns about the amount
of farmland idled under the Conservation Reserve Program.
While the 2018 farm bill raised the
acreage cap for C.R.P. to 27 million
acres from 24 million acres, it reduced
C.R.P. rental rates. The reduction in
rental rates was expected to have the
effect of providing economic incentive
to producers to withdraw productive
and non-environmentally sensitive
acres from the C.R.P. and keep productive acres from being enrolled.
Additionally, farm bill provisions
developed by Senator John Thune
of South Dakota that provided for
short-term, i.e. three-year and fiveyear C.R.P. enrollments, were expected to help keep acreage from being tied up in the program for 10, 15
or even 20 years. MBN
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Milling & Baking News - March 26, 2019

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