Context in a $30B Ag Trade Deficit

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

Yesterday here on this show, I had a program titled “Tequila and Our Ag Trade Deficit.” While the title was a little satirical, it brought forward an important aspect of what we look at when we discuss a $30B ag trade deficit. That is that things like distilled spirits are now part of the figures when we talk about the value of agricultural imports.

Context, according to USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor, is also important in the fact that economic trends have been good...

"The United States has recovered better than anyone, and certainly better than projected from the COVID pandemic. We have a very strong U.S. dollar, incomes are rising so people have more money. So we are a demanding, voracious consumer base here in the United States. Which people want to access and tap into."

Still, as consumers get the diversified markets they want, Taylor says that does not give any excuses to stop selling U.S. product. She points to the new Regional Agriculture Promotion Program among other projects and trade missions aimed to break into new foreign markets...

"We need to be focused on that export side, opening new markets, knocking down barriers, and that's exactly what we're trying to do here at USDA."

USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor.