Ensuring countries live up to their commitments to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities will be a priority for the administration in the coming months and years, top ag trade officials said on Wednesday.
“The president is a firm believer that if other countries are going to make a commitment to our family farmers here in the United States, that they’re going to live up to those commitments,” Luke Lindberg, USDA’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, told Agri-Pulse at the Midwest Agricultural Export Summit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The administration has been locked in trade discussions with China for several months to find a lasting solution to tit-for-tat tariff escalations. President Donald Trump extended a deadline for higher tariffs earlier this week, giving both sides until November to reach an agreement. The president has publicly urged China to increase its purchases of U.S. soybeans to smooth negotiations.
The last time Trump inked a deal with China, in the 2020 “phase one” deal, Beijing fell short of its purchase commitments for ag and other products. Asked how the administration would work to ensure countries like China meet their commitments for U.S. ag products under updated agreements, Lindberg said U.S. officials would evaluate and monitor the outcomes of new trade deals to make sure that they are being lived up to.
“If we find that they’re not living up to their commitments, we’ll be sure to flag that for the president and his team,” Lindberg said.
Purchase commitments for U.S. agricultural commodities were also included in recent deals with Japan and Indonesia, while a deal with the European Union includes a commitment to boost purchases of U.S. energy, despite the European Commission having no mandate to direct member state’s energy purchases.
During a panel discussion at the conference, Julie Callahan, Trump’s nominee for chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, also emphasized ensuring countries stick to their commitments. Recounting her experience from Trump’s first term, Callahan noted USTR provided Trump with a report every Friday containing data on the quantities of agricultural commodities being purchased by China.
“The president — who has many, many things to do on his mind — really cares about U.S. agriculture and really cares that trading partners are meeting the commitments that they’re putting on paper,” said Callahan, who currently serves as assistant U.S. trade representative for agricultural affairs and commodity policy.
Callahan added that the administration could “take away some of the concessions that they got from us in the deal,” if foreign governments fail to live up to their sides of the deals. “I anticipate we’ll be looking very closely at whether countries are meeting their commitments and how are these deals affecting trade deficit.”
While the Trump administration has announced a slate of new trade pacts that includes reductions in agricultural export barriers, details have so far been scant or contested.
Only the U.K. agreement text has been signed and publicly released. It covers ethanol, beef and leaves room for future negotiations on other agricultural commodities.
Richard Hyde, the British consul general in Chicago, called the agreement “fantastic” during the summit, adding that it will create more predictability in trading relationships in lots of sectors. He acknowledged, however, that the U.K’s agreement to eliminate duties on the first 1.4 billion liters of ethanol imports from the U.S. “was really difficult for us,” noting frustration from the country’s ethanol producers.
“We have domestic ethanol producers who are not massively happy with the fact that we now have this quota for the U.S.,” he said. “But that’s just part of the process of international trade.”
Oliver Ward contributed to this report.
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