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Grassley talks trade with USDA nominee Rollins

The importance of bilateral trade is being impressed upon President-elect Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ag Secretary.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says he recently met with Brooke Rollins and highlighted some of the bilateral agreements under the George W. Bush administration.

“About 15 countries (and) about seven or eight different trade deals, and to emphasize to her that those have been very profitable.”

The Iowa Republican says the U.S. government increased trade about 600 percent in those collective countries, and he’s encouraging Rollins to promote that concept through USDA’s Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Ag Affairs.

“Because if you leave China, Canada, Mexico, Europe, if you leave them out of the question of doing any trade deals there’s still a lot that can be accomplished without hurting our relations.”

Grassley says he also wants the incoming Trump administration to pick up where it left off in negotiating new trade deals with African countries.