Explaining Projected $32B Ag Trade Deficit
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.In the world of agricultural trade, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack blames this year’s expected record farm trade deficit on a strong U.S. economy and U.S. criticism of major trading partner China.
Vilsack says the U.S. economy’s strength, with its stronger dollar, is largely to blame for USDA’s record 32 billion-dollar forecast Ag trade deficit this fiscal year…
“As a result, we’re not seeing the level of purchasing we’ve seen in the past. Secondly, we’ve seen a rather significant decrease in some of the purchases from China. They used to be our number one customer. They’re now our number two customer.”
With a trading relationship complicated by tensions…
“It’s pretty difficult when your number one customer’s being criticized, that they would expect that they would continue to be our number one customer.”
But Ag Republicans like South Dakota’s John Thune see a lack of administration trade deals as the main culprit…
“Market access is what our farmers and ranchers are looking for to open up the markets, so they can sell their products, and get the trade deficit back to a trade surplus, and get this net farm income back in the positive column.”
Vilsack says USDA’s trying to do that, but not with free trade deals.