The Executive Director of Farmers for Free Trade says the Trump administration should consider pulling back on its aggressive tariff strategy.
Brian Kuehl tells Brownfield farmers are depending on major markets like China. “If we lose a market like China – our number one export market for U.S. soybeans, about 15 billion dollars per year in export sales – if we lose that market Brazil is only too happy to step in and snatch it from us,” he said. “We’ve got to jealously guard these markets and grow these markets.”
He says the U.S. ag industry can’t afford to lose critical trading partners. “We’re the strongest ag industry in the world, but we can only stay that way if we sell our products,” Kuehl said. “Twenty percent of farm revenue comes from exports. If we’re not exporting, U.S. agriculture is going away.”
Kuehl says he was pleased to see the administration work out a trading framework in principle with the UK to help boost beef and ethanol exports.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
No one wants to lose markets or market share. Once you have it, it’s always better to keep it or grow it even further. Unfortunately, tariffs are not the only reason we are losing market share to Brazil. The relative strength of our currency relative to other countries is certainly a factor. Also, U.S. continues to maintain an edge with soy quality, but that is being erased by improvements in other soy producing areas like Brazil and Argentina. Then there are transportation costs, where once again the U.S. is struggling to maintain an edge. What everyone should really be looking for is “fair trade”. Could tariffs be the means to creating “fair trade”? The other element for success is expanding other markets -opening new ones, as well as growing with existing trading partners.
Speaking of growing markets, what are you doing to expand your reach and performance with farmers/ranchers in your area? Are you able and willing to expand your customer service with mobile parts and service contracts? What about selling CAD Protect plans that are designed specifically to address the warranty issues for farmers/ranchers? Be sure to keep your inventory up-to-date on AgTruckTrader.com®. If you don’t keep it current, the CAD member down the road might take some market share away from you – just saying!
