Trump administration unveils trade actions against China

NFU laments administration’s ‘bull in a china shop’ approach, urges tactful process to address trade woes.
calendar icon 23 March 2018
clock icon 2 minute read

The Trump administration today unveiled trade actions against China that will likely spur significant retaliatory measures aimed at US agricultural products. The move is in response to a US Trade Representative office investigation on China’s violations of intellectual property rights.

National Farmers Union (NFU), a family farmer-led organisation who supports aggressive efforts to fight unfair trade practices, lamented the administration’s apparent lack of a plan to safeguard the interests of family farmers. NFU President Roger Johnson released the following statement:

Our trade agenda for the past 30 years has been to promote free trade at all costs, ignoring countries cheating on intellectual property rights and currency manipulation. While we’re appreciative of the administration’s focus on creating fair trade between the US and our trading partners, their ‘bull in a china shop’ approach to fixing our trade woes is dangerous.

Family farmers and ranchers are always the first to be hit by retaliatory tariffs, and in the case of China, significant exports markets are likely to be the first casualty. NFU is very concerned about the effects that China’s proposed retaliatory efforts would have on all agricultural products, particularly given our already burdensome inventories of grains. The President must have a plan in place to protect family farmers before seeking to remedy unfair trade practices.

As reported by NFU

Emily Houghton

Editor, The Pig Site

Emily Houghton is a Zoology graduate from Cardiff University and was the editor of The Pig Site from October 2017 to May 2020. Emily has worked in livestock husbandry, and has written, conducted and assisted with research projects regarding the synthesis of welfare and productivity of free-range food species.

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