The United States will impose a 25% tariff on $50 billion of Chinese exports, the president said Friday. Beijing previously promised to respond to this tariff with retaliatory tariffs of its own on $50 billion of U.S. products such as cars, planes and soybeans.
U.S. Grains Council (USGC) President and CEO Tom Sleight says the farmers and exporters they represent have been here before regarding China and they are well aware of what it’s like to deal with tariffs, counter-tariffs and policy restrictions.
"Since 2010, we have been adversely impacted by trade policy actions by China against U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), sorghum, ethanol and corn," says Sleight. "China is a very important market for U.S. coarse grains and their co-products, but so too is the rest of the world. We will stay closely engaged with the China market and its importance to U.S. agriculture, but we will also redouble our efforts in the rest of the world to expand demand.
“We are concerned any tariff opens this market to our competitors and locking out U.S. products doesn’t mean trade stops – it means other partners will take our place," he continues. "Bottom line: tariff battles are never productive.
“We trust the leaders at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House know how critical open markets are to our industry and appreciate their support during this process and in this tense time," he concludes.
