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AFBF state leaders pleased with trade wins

State Farm Bureau leaders say there’s much to look forward to now that strides have been made on major trade issues.

A year ago, Farm Bureau delegates were talking about the need for Congress to pass the USMCA and called for the end to the China trade war.

Now, the USMCA has passed Congress and a phase-one trade deal has been signed with China.

Steve Nelson is President of the Nebraska Farm Bureau tells Brownfield Ag News, “It’ll take time in both cases to see the effects of the trade agreements. These are things we’ve been asking for, things that we believe farmers and ranchers need and so it’s great progress and great news.”

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue told members last night, China would double its US ag purchases and President Trump said China would triple them.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says it is good that there are numbers in the agreement for 2020 and ’21, “It may be not quite a tripling but they are nice increases over our levels of 2017 which, of course, was the top year for China exports. So the fact that it’s written down, it’s in the agreement – we can hold people accountable. That’s good news.”

President Trump told members last night he would be signing the USMCA very soon.