The top 10 soybean producing and exporting countries, eight voted for trump and only two for Clinton.
New penalties largely seen as retaliation for tariffs the trump administration declared against China, the largest consumer of American exports of soybeans. In addition to steel and aluminium tariffs, the White house also announced Tuesday additional duties on Chinese electronics and other technological items.
Senator Chuck grassli, R-Iowa, whose home city was the second largest producer of soybean exports in 2016, last year, the Ministry of agriculture statistics, said that he warned the President that’s the kind of retaliatory move in a White house meeting in February.
“The administration knows that if imposed duties on Chinese goods, China will take retaliatory action against the agriculture of the United States,” Grassley said in a statement. “Today shows what exactly happened.”
Grassli added that, although the United States must defend its interests against foreign countries that do not play by international trade rules, farmers and ranchers should not bear the burden of any trade war.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman said he will consider the question of tariffs in this panel, which oversees patents, copyrights and policies in the field of trademarks, and as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade policy.
In addition to soybeans, China also tariffs on more than 20 other vital U.S. farm and ranch exports, including corn, pork and beef, which largely hit the same States. The list also contains whiskey, which would have got home Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky especially hard.
McConnell and his house counterpart, speaker of the house Paul Ryan, R-district., have long warned that the aggressive US actions could lead to a trade war. During the visit with farmers and business leaders in his home state Tuesday before China announced new tariffs McConnell expressed concern that it is seen as a growing trend in the administration to wield the tariffs as a trade cudgel.
“It’s a slippery slope, so I hope it will stop before it gets to the broader tit-for-tat that can’t be good for our country.”
Senior Deb Fischer, R-Neb., sent a tweet Wednesday, urging President trump to work with China to protect American workers in the heartland. Her home state is the leading exporter of soybeans, beef and corn.
Senator John Thune, R-S. D., the third rank of the Senate, the Republican noted that every third row of soybeans in the state is exported.
“This will undoubtedly have a negative impact on agriculture and hard-working men and women who support it. I will continue to keep the pressure on the administration and will do everything I can to ensure farmers and ranchers in South Dakota are protected,” he said in a statement.
Midwestern Democrats were also quick to weigh in. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a statement that it is a brewing trade war is a product of the President’s hair-trigger crisis situations.
“The farmers of Illinois now join of daca recipients as the last victim of the disposition of the President of trump,” said Durbin. “America cannot move forward in a Blizzard of tweets and wild threats from this President.”
Senator Heidi heitkamp company, D-N. D. recommended more efficient ways would be to explore the mechanisms of Commerce to rein in China, not direct sanctions on goods, which are harmful to American farmers.
“These actions are a direct result of the proposed tariffs administration of China, brings us closer to a trade war that American manufacturers can’t afford to,” she said.
Senator Sherrod brown, Democrat of Ohio, who previously welcomed the administration trump for his protectionist actions on trade, said it was not surprising that China was a “dirty game.” But he added that the administration should use this moment in which the two countries are escalating to force China to sit down at the negotiating table.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
