My weekly column: President Trump is securing strong trade deals for American farmers, workers, and businesses
Global trade is a crucial component of the American economy, ensuring that our businesses, manufacturers, and farmers can sell their high-quality goods across the world and make continued investments in our country. However, for decades, foreign nations have taken advantage of the American marketplace by illegally dumping products at our ports, a common practice by China, and imposing baseless and unscientific restrictions on U.S. exports. With the election of President Trump, the era of American industry, workers, and farms being mistreated and taken advantage of is over.
In just the few months since he’s been in office, President Trump has negotiated trade deals with numerous countries and entities, including the European Union (EU), Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. These deals truly put American industry and agriculture first, opening new export markets for American goods and eliminating burdensome barriers that have prevented U.S. products from reaching global markets.
Most recently, President Trump announced a historic trade agreement with the EU. This pact outlines that the EU will buy $750 billion in U.S. energy while making new investments in our country to the tune of $600 billion – all by 2028. The EU and U.S. will also work closely to streamline items like sanitary certificate requirements, ensuring that Iowa pork, dairy, and other agricultural products will have increased access to the EU. Similarly, the trade deal that was reached with Indonesia calls for the elimination of non-tariff barriers like removing U.S. agricultural products from burdensome Indonesian licensing requirements and its commodity balance policy. This agreement, in particular, requires Indonesia to pay the U.S. a reciprocal 19% tariff on goods shipped to our country and open its market to American-made cars.
On July 25th, the Trump administration further announced a historic, new deal with Australia that would expand Australia’s market for U.S. fresh and frozen beef. This is a huge win for cattle producers in Iowa and around the country. For over twenty years, despite exporting about $29 billion of beef to the United States, Australia imposed barriers on U.S. beef exports and closed its borders to high-quality American beef. This agreement ends that practice and opens the Australian market to our beef. In similar fashion, President Trump’s deal with the United Kingdom secures more than $700 million in U.S. ethanol exports and $250 million in other agricultural exports, including beef, to the U.K.
Other deals include Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines, in which Vietnam will pay the United States a 20% tariff and the Philippines will pay a 19% tariff to access our markets. In particular, Vietnam has announced it would purchase $800 million worth of Iowa agricultural products, such as corn, soybeans, and other grains while Japan will invest $550 billion into the U.S. and open markets for American agricultural goods. Meanwhile, the Philippines has indicated willingness to accept U.S. manufactured products like electronics and computers. Additionally, President Trump negotiated a strong trade framework with China, which would be very beneficial for Iowa agriculture, especially our corn, soybeans, and hog farmers.
These deals massively increase market access for Iowa agriculture. In Congress, I have been working in lockstep with the Trump administration to advocate for Iowa farmers and producers. In June, I led a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urging improved market access for U.S. agricultural exports – specifically U.S. ethanol, distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and soybean meal (SBM) – in India. In April, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing with Ambassador Greer. I specifically emphasized the need to open new export markets for Iowa agriculture, and the importance of looking all over the world — from the U.K. to India to Kenya — for new trade opportunities for our farmers and producers.
Traveling across Iowa on my 36 County Tour, I see firsthand how a strong agricultural economy directly translates to vibrant, prosperous communities. The resilience of our Main Streets – the heartbeat of our communities – is tied to the success of our agricultural industry. Working with President Trump, I will continue to work to open new export markets and ensure that our farmers, businesses, manufacturers, and workers are being treated fairly on the global stage.