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Farmers press USTR to avoid actions that could hurt ag exports in Section 301 hearings

Farmers are asking the U.S. Trade Representative to do no harm to agriculture in ongoing trade negotiations.

American Soybean Association’s Dave Walton was one of several ag leaders to testify this week as part of Section 301 Investigation hearings.

“We’re telling USTR to be cautious about how to handle the tariffs on other products because it will have a spillover effect on ag exports, and soybean specifically,” he says. “I think we accounted for around 70 or 71 percent of those trade losses the last go-round.”

The Iowa farmer tells Brownfield, “China has made commitments to buy U.S. soybeans, but we’re not seeing the follow-through, and I think they’re just barely making the minimum commitments.”

“What we’d like to see is signatures on contracts that they have actually bought beans, we want to see beans go on boats,” he says.

Walton says the Trade Ambassador could also provide farmers with relief by exempting some ag inputs from tariffs.

“We are seeing a variety of tariff implications on those products,” he shares. “At a time when the margins are slim to none in farming, we need all the help we can get to bring those margins back to profitability.”

He says about $33 billion in agricultural inputs are currently subject to tariffs.

American Feed Industry Association, American Seed Trade Association, American Sugar Alliance Clean Fuels Alliance America, and Corn Refiners Association are also among the groups testifying during this week’s hearings.