Vilsack on Current Trade Issues
The dairy industry has been losing sleep over trade tension for nearly a year. It was this time last year that President Trump started taking the steps to renegotiate NAFTA. Since that time we’ve not only begun the steps to renegotiate NAFTA, but U.S. farmers have found themselves caught in the middle of a trade war with China.
“It’s obvious that we were headed toward a conflict with China,” Tom Vilsack, CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture told CNBC’s SquakBox this week. “My concern there wasn’t that we were going after China but that we were going it alone.”
According to Vilsack, President Trump’s approach with China is what has given them the opportunity to retaliate in the ways that they have.
When it comes to NAFTA, Vilsack says dairy farmers are still holding out hope for a quick resolution.
“Obviously in the dairy industry, we’re deeply concerned about NAFTA. Mexico is our No. 1 market,” he says. “We wanna see a quick resolution to the negotiations. We’d like to see what’s working preserved in Mexico and what isn’t working in Canada changed.”
Watch the full CNBC Vilsack interview below:
If there is a NAFTA ‘resolution’, farmers will be reassured, says former Agriculture secretary from CNBC.
Jo Windmann
Mon, 08/20/2018 – 13:44
Category
Dairy (General)
NAFTA
Trade
Comments
News Article
Source: Dairy Herd
