Perdue hopeful for tariff reduction talks with China

The agriculture secretary spoke at a House hearing to address China’s $3 billion worth of tariffs in retaliation against U.S. global duties on steel and aluminum.    Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue during a House hearing Wednesday expressed his hopes that the Trump administration and the Chinese government can abate tariff barriers recently erected by both the U.S. government and Beijing as lawmakers expressed concern about the prospect of a tit-for-tat trade war.
   “We’re hopeful that we can see … these trade disputes and the saber-rattling be just that, [and] get to the negotiating table and stop the unfair trade practices we’ve seen, particularly from China and many areas, that we can again utilize that market because it is a huge market for our agricultural producers,” Perdue said during a hearing of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee.
   Perdue also said the United States recently has reached agreements to increase agricultural exports to several countries, including Argentina and South Korea, and “there are more to come.”
   Subcommittee ranking member Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., said China is his state’s third-largest export market and expressed concern about how Georgia’s crop exports, including pecans, would be affected by China’s recent tariff hikes.
   Retaliating against U.S. global tariffs of 25 percent for steel and 10 percent for aluminum imports that kicked into gear on March 23, China on April 2 raised tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including 84 food and agricultural products.
   The raises included a tariff increase on U.S. in-shell and unshelled pecans from 7 percent to 22 percent. Bishop said China’s tariffs on U.S. pecans dropped from 24 percent more than three years ago to 7 percent at the end of 2017.
   “I’m hearing from many of my constituents about their fears for a trade war,” he said.
   Perdue noted that the Agriculture Department may need to “use all the authorities” in its budget to help insulate farmers from any negative impacts of Chinese tariffs “if it comes to that.”
   Full committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., expressed concern about farmers’ futures as they cope with tariffs, saying, “I’m not a great believer in trade wars.”
   Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Perdue didn’t comment on whether China had come to the table to negotiate potential tariff reductions with the United States. 
   “We consult with USTR about specific issues in that, but the negotiations that have to happen, that’s going to be done at a level of Treasury and a holistic part of all things on there,” Perdue said. “We’re dealing with intellectual property theft, not just agriculture, but when it comes to the retaliatory measures, we advise and consult the administration over what the potential is there. So that’s how we get involved, but we’re not necessarily the negotiators at the table over those issues, because it’s a much broader array of issues that have to be dealt with. Commerce, Treasury, USTR —those are the people involved.”