(Kansas City) — Agriculture industry leaders are working to navigate trade under the second Trump Administration.
At the annual NAFB Convention in Kansas City on Wednesday, representatives from several national organizations participated in the “Trade in Trump 2.0” panel, now 10 months into the new presidential administration. Among the participants was National Milk Producers Federation President and Chief Executive Officer Gregg Doud, who also served as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative from 2018 to 2021. Among the more significant trade policies under the second Trump Administration impacting agriculture have been tariffs on goods imported into the United States. Doud says he categorizes the tariffs implemented by the Trump Administration into four categories, the majority of which he says are “leverage” or “negotiating tools” that have either resulted in deals or deal frameworks with several Southeast Asian countries.
“I’ve been in Washington doing trade stuff for 33 years and for 33 years, we’ve wanted some of these deals with Southeast Asia,” said Doud. “Have we seen all the details yet and know what they are? No, but I’m very familiar with what we’re doing here and I think we’ve moved the needle pretty significantly here in agriculture with Southeast Asia.”
Meanwhile, Doud also put negotiations with China in their own category due to dealing with a country that doesn’t always operate based on “supply and demand” or negotiate “fairly.” He adds that other tariffs can be labeled as reciprocity.
“The second bucket would be with the tariffs relative to reciprocity,” said Doud. “Why are we putting a tariff on Switzerland? Well, because they charge a 1,200% tariff on U.S. beef,” said Doud. “Can we get that to match up a little bit? Son of a gun, we’ve now sat down and had a conversation with Switzerland to say, ‘hey, look, we’ve got to even this thing out.'”
But Doud also acknowledged that some of the tariffs “don’t make sense,” such as those on products used in fertilizer, which the Trump Administration has partially rolled back. But Doud adds that trade negotiations take time and are occurring in a “different world” from when he left the USTR in 2021.
“All the easy stuff has been done–these trade-offs now get really, really complicated in the countries that you’re dealing with,” said Doud. “Then sometimes, I won’t say their name, but their number, the Europeans, is where they’re just not going to do it. They’re just not. That’s a great potential market for us, but these are the challenges that we’re up against in terms of how do we continue to grow and compete.”
He adds that tariffs are also just one piece of making the U.S. competitive, noting it also encompasses tax, regulatory, and fiscal policies. Doud says it also requires finding ways to reduce input costs for U.S. farmers and producers.
“You know, we can grow export markets, but who’s going to get them at this point,” he said. “So we have got to really focus on what are the things that we can do with regard to crop inputs. You know, the things that go into glyphosate, where do they come from? How can we improve our supply chains on these essential crop inputs to lower costs for U.S. farmers? Because fertilizer, machinery, all these different things go together.”
Other members of the “Trade in Trump 2.0” panel included Andrew Brandt of the U.S. Grains and BioProducts Council, Joe Schuele of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, and Jana Fritz of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. You can find the full panel discussion below: