Page 34 - Export or Bust eBook

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Senior Congressional

Relations Director David Salmonsen acknowledges trade
challenges. But he tells us that the U.S. now exports to “a greater
variety and a greater number of countries than in the past” and that
“There’s demand around the world, especially in a growing
economy like China.”

Salmonsen’s concern is that the Trump administration announced

tariffs first on $50 billion in imports from China, then on another

$100 billion to pressure China into negotiating. But he warns that

with China announcing retaliatory tariffs, the battle could last long

enough to lose markets that could take years to rebuild. He says

Farm Bureau opposes using tariffs and instead supports resolving
trade issues “either with direct negotiations with that country or
through a multilateral process.”

AFBF'S David Salmonsen

NAWG President Jimmie Musick explains that with his wheat,
cattle, alfalfa, cotton and sorghum operation in Sentinel, Okla., “it doesn’t appear like I raise a
commodity that China’s not after to include in their tariff trade war.” To help remove this threat,
he wants the administration to understand “how

important it is that we maintain good trade

relationships and how devastating it will be to our

farmers when China puts a 25 percent tariff on our
commodities.”

Musick’s also at work on getting more support from
farm-state members of Congress. He’d like them to

persuade the administration to switch from tariffs to

negotiations by offering in return to support legislation
that’s on Trump’s priority list.

With today’s long list of farm and trade organizations NAWG President Jimmie Musick
linking arms as never before, Musick and his

colleagues are hopeful their concerted pressure on
Congress and the White House will pay off in terms of
less turbulent waters ahead and continued growth in
the U.S. ag export markets that they’ve worked so
diligently to build over several decades.

#30

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