The Biden administration is sitting on its hands when it ought to be knocking down trade barriers and negotiating new trade pacts for U.S. food and ag exports, said a bipartisan chorus of senators on Wednesday. Since President Biden took office in 2021, the administration has not initiated formal talks for a new free trade agreement anywhere, said members of the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing on the U.S. trade agenda.
“In addition to enforcing the rules on the books to hold trade cheats accountable, USTR [U.S. trade representative] can and must be playing offense,” said Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. The senior Republican on the committee, Mike Crapo of Idaho, said the administration “has yet to take a single enforcement action against China.”
Finance Committee member Debbie Stabenow, who also chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said there was wide concern in farm country about expanding ag exports. “We need those markets and trade agreements,” said the Michigan Democrat.
U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai said the administration had secured $21 billion in new agricultural access in the past three years in countries that include Japan and India. In addition, it challenged Canada over quotas imposed on U.S. dairy imports and Mexico for closing its doors to U.S. white corn grown from genetically engineered seeds. “This administration is fighting every single day,” said Tai. She said the senators had failed to credit initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, launched two years ago.
During a visit Wednesday to Pittsburgh, Biden called for tripling U.S. import duties on Chinese-made steel and aluminum. And Tai’s office said it would investigate whether China was using unfair policies in an attempt to dominate the shipbuilding industry worldwide.
“I honestly can’t see anything the administration is doing on market access” for agriculture, said South Dakota’s John Thune, No. 2 in GOP Senate leadership. U.S. food and ag exports are falling for the second year in a row, and an agricultural trade deficit of $30.5 billion is forecast for this fiscal year, which would be the largest ever.
Free trade agreements (FTAs) capture headlines, but steady enforcement of trade rules can open markets more quickly, said Tai. Trade agreements can take years to nail down, she said.
“How about the easy FTAs? How about the U.K.?” asked Thune.
“I think there are no easy FTAs,” replied Tai. The United Kingdom has refused to discuss agricultural market access with Canada, she said, and there are long-standing obstacles to expanding U.S.-EU food and ag trade.
The strong U.S. dollar and the vibrancy of the U.S. economy are among the reasons that food and ag exports are under pressure, she said. The United States is ahead of the world in economic recovery.
“I would just say that I think ag always ends up being at the end of the line,” said Thune.
To watch a video of the hearing or to read written statements by Wyden, Crapo, and Tai, click here.