Friday, May 18, 2018

Farm states say they bear 'unfair' brunt of Chinese tariffs; Commerce secretary says administration will try to help

"Several senators whose states are already feeling the effects of escalating U.S. trade tensions with China pressed Wilbur Ross at Thursday’s Senate Appropriations [Committee] hearing on the Trump administration’s tariff strategy," Dave Nyczepir reports for Route Fifty.

Sen. Jerry Moran, the Kansas Republican who chairs the committee said the tariffs imposed by China have done "significant economic harm" to his state, which he noted is a leader in beef, pork, wheat, sorghum and soybean production--all of which have been slapped with heavy tariffs.

Ross, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin went to China last week in an attempt to halt the escalating trade war. Both sides delivered specific demands, Ross said at the hearing, but said the gap between what the two countries want remains "wide." 

Agriculture had figured heavily in the trade discussions with China, Ross said, and promised "we will do our level best to minimize the problem and to maximize the support we can provide in helping them."

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