Salmonsen: Trade Deals Even More Important During Pandemic

The American Farm Bureau Federation said farm trade will remain key to supporting the Ag economy, during and after the coronavirus pandemic. AFBF trade adviser Dave Salmonsen said trade, and strong trade deals are a constant need, but may be even more important now because of the uncertainty in both U.S. and international markets. He added U.S. Ag trade efforts haven’t taken a break, despite the pandemic.

“The UK talks began, virtually, over the computers. They did some talks there, last week, and they’re going to continue, start those up in the middle of June, getting started. And, of course, the thing with the European Union is there’s been a lot of issues, back and forth, with the Boeing Airbus case, tariffs the U.S. had put on.”

But other efforts, while slowed by the pandemic, are starting to pay dividends.

“We had the China deal, the Japan deal, starting the overture with Kenya, which could, potentially, over time, open up a lot of opportunities, all through Africa; I think, we’ll see the results of the Kenya deal could be very positive for doing new trade in Africa.  There’s ongoing talks in South America with Brazil.”

Though much focus remains on China, and if the Asia nation will successfully live up to its agreements in Phase One.

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