Newhouse: India, Europe Trade Focus For 2020

While 2019 was a challenging year for the farm economy, there were many positives in the world of trade.  An updated NAFTA, now known as USMCA, a bilateral trade deal with Japan and Phase One with China were all addressed.

Now, where does the U.S. go when it comes to trade and expanding markets for American farmers?  Central Washington Representative Dan Newhouse says one of the top priorities for 2020 is India.

“A huge market.  I heard the other day their population is going to surpass China here soon," Newhouse said.  "It is certainly one that has not been as favorable to us, in not only apples, but many other commodities, so we’ve got some work there that we would like to get going and solve some of those issues for that huge market.”

India still has several tariffs on northwest products, most notability apples, which makes trade with that growing market challenging.  Newhouse added Europe will also have a renewed focus and priority this year.  He said post-Brexit, the UK very anxious to have something in place with the U.S., but the UK not the only one.

“The European Union also," Newhouse added.  "We’ll need an update of our trade policies with them.”

The administration continues to push for trade agreements with a variety of emerging markets across the world, including SE Asia, and a recent push to strike up a free trade deal with Kenya.

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