My Weekly Column: President Biden’s Trade Agenda is Missing in Action
President Biden has abandoned and punished our farmers on every front imaginable. His new WOTUS rule invites federal bureaucrats to saddle Iowa farmers with costly red tape, his electric vehicle mandates threaten the vitality of our biofuels industry, and his economic agenda jeopardizes longstanding provisions in the tax code to strengthen Iowa agriculture. Even worse, he has no interest in negotiating new trade agreements that would expand our export capacity or holding foreign countries – like Mexico and Brazil – accountable for their unfair trade practices.
Serving on both the House Agriculture Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, I have made it a top priority to open new markets for Iowa farmers and hold the Biden administration accountable to our rural communities. While President Biden has been missing in action on advancing a comprehensive trade agenda that benefits our farmers and manufacturers, I have taken matters into my own hands.
That’s why I recently teamed up with my colleague from Arkansas, Representative Rick Crawford – who also sits on the Agriculture Committee – to introduce the Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act. This legislation would authorize the creation of a joint task force between the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA charged with identifying export opportunities for our farmers and developing real strategies to eliminate unfair trade tactics by foreign countries. We must ensure that our farmers and producers have a seat at the table when considering new trade agreements. Our legislation takes a meaningful step to include our farmers in the global marketplace and elevate their voices in high-level conversations.
This Congress, I also voted for the United States-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade First Agreement Implementation Act, which was signed into law in August. This legislation – which was shaped and written by my Ways and Means colleagues and me – would establish the first-ever bilateral trade agreement between the United States and Taiwan. It would also codify into law explicit congressional approval of any future trade agreement with any nation.
Congress commands exclusive constitutional authority to negotiate new trade agreements that support American families, farmers, workers, and small businesses. It is vital that this power remains in the hands of lawmakers. By normalizing trade relations with Taiwan – which is the seventh largest export market for American agriculture products and consequently supplies our country and the world with semiconductors vital to modern technology – this proposed agreement will advance economic prosperity for our two nations.
Representing the second largest agriculture-producing district in the nation, I will continue to be a strong advocate for opening new markets for Iowa producers and negotiating beneficial trade agreements for the United States. We cannot surrender our leverage to foreign countries – like Mexico and China – that are actively working to undercut our economic superiority and violate our trade laws. Approving real trade laws will pay dividends for our economy, our agriculture community, and the long-term vitality of our manufacturing sector.
We are government together, and your thoughts and opinions matter to me. Please contact my office at Feenstra.House.Gov or by phone at 202-225-4426 if I can ever be of assistance. I am proud to represent our families, farmers, main street businesses, and rural communities in Congress.