Washington, D.C. – Executive staff leaders from 11 major U.S. agricultural
and agribusiness organizations commended the Trump administration for
engaging in a substantive and productive meeting today focused on the
importance of continued growth of food and agriculture exports.
The meeting followed a series of written communications to the Trump
administration from the broad-based U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for
Trade, as well as a number of the individual organizations, stressing the
importance of agricultural trade. Those communications also have expressed
an eagerness on behalf of the food and agriculture sector to work actively
and constructively with the administration in preserving the major benefits
of the North American Free Trade Agreement to the sector while seeking
further improvements to modernize the 23-year-old accord, as well as to
reinvigorate trade negotiations with important U.S. agricultural trading
partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn participated in the meeting
with representatives from the American Farm Bureau Federation, American
Soybean Association, Corn Refiners Association, National Association of
Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council,
National Grain and Feed Association, National Oilseed Processors
Association, North American Export Grain Association, Southern Peanut
Farmers Federation and USA Rice.
“It is clear from this meeting and other interactions that the Trump
administration understands and intends to pursue expansion of U.S. food and
agriculture exports which contribute to U.S. manufacturing, job creation and
economic growth,” the groups said following the meeting. “We are committed
to offering substantive proposals and ideas, and look forward to further
opportunities to work with the administration and its trade team as they
develop specific strategies for engaging in trade negotiations with our most
important trading partners. We are pleased that we received assurances from
the Trump team that it will take us up on that offer.”
During the meeting, the agricultural organizations noted that 95 percent of
their potential customers live beyond the U.S. border, and that the diverse
food and agriculture sector supports more than 15 million U.S. jobs, creates
more than $423 billion in annual U.S. economic activity, and is the single
largest U.S. manufacturing sector, representing 12 percent of all U.S.
manufacturing jobs.
Source: Corn Refiners Association