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USTR under fire for trade policies affecting farmers

Lawmakers pressed the U.S. Trade Representative this week over policies they say are hurting American farmers during a U.S. House Appropriations Committee hearing.

Indiana Democrat Frank Mrvan confronted Ambassador Jaimeson Greer repeatably about lost soybean exports to China and questionable financial support to Argentina.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Mrvan sparred. “The administration gave $40 billion to a country that took their market. What do you say to the farmers who feel like it’s a slap in the face that one market was closed and you enhanced the country that took their market away?”

Jamieson Greer countered, “We have a 25 million metric ton commitment from the Chinese every year for the next three years to buy soybeans.”

“That’s what we have from the Chinese, that’s what they committed to do, that’s what we’ve negotiated,” he said.

“Are they currently doing that?” Mrvan pressed.

“They don’t buy it all at once, they do it over the year,” Greer explained.

Economists at Purdue University estimate China’s commitment is 14 percent less than the prior five years of purchases if fulfilled.

Missouri Republican Mark Alford questioned how the USTR is prioritizing actions that directly impact high ag input prices and availability.

Greer says officials are meeting with members across the fertilizer supply chain to address concerns, and fertilizer has not been targeted with tariffs throughout negotiations.

“The trade policy is a long-term policy,” he said. “It’s about reshoring, it’s about manufacturing. But there are certain markets where we just don’t get involved in oil and gas, certain hydrocarbons, LNG, it’s at the heart of some fertilizer manufacturing. Potash, we don’t have tariffs, other fertilizer, we don’t have tariffs on that.”

The administration is requesting $95 million in direct appropriations for fiscal year 2027, which Greer says would fund additional staff and strengthen trade enforcement.