President Biden has proposed tripling steel and aluminum tariffs on China. But his Ag Secretary argues provoking China may be at the root of a rising farm trade deficit.
Top Senate Finance Republican Mike Crapo (R-ID) brought up the steel tariff issue with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, urging she quickly finish a required tariff review and act. Crapo said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 my understanding that President Biden has recommended that there be a tripling of our tariffs on steel and aluminum for China. And the question I have is, when are we going to get an answer? when will this investigation end and a decision be made?鈥 Tai 鈥淲e are in very, very advanced stages of our interagency work, and I expect that we will come to a conclusion very soon.鈥
But Biden鈥檚 tripling of the steel tariffs started by former President Trump could again spark retaliation by China against U.S. Ag producers.
Yet Secretary Tom Vilsack had this possible explanation for the growing U.S. ag trade deficit in an exchange with top GOP Senate Ag appropriator John Hoeven at a recent hearing. Vilsack said, 鈥淥ur trade deficit for the first three months of fiscal 鈥24 was six billion dollars鈥攁bout six billion dollars more than we sold. China purchased six billion dollars less.鈥 Hoeven 鈥淚 knew that鈥檚 where you were going, yeah鈥oincidence no, right?鈥 Vilsack 鈥淲ell, look, if you continually rap your number one customer, it鈥檚 not surprising that your number one customer would send you a signal about, 鈥楬ey, we鈥檙e paying attention.鈥欌
But President Biden has left U.S. tariffs imposed by Trump in place on hundreds of billions in Chinese goods, while Beijing鈥檚 kept its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. farm goods like soybeans. And it鈥檚 failed to live up to its Phase I commitments to the U.S. to buy more farm goods.
Story courtesy of NAFB News Service and Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau Washington
