U.S. ag chief targets trade for Asia trip

   U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Vietnam and China in mid-November to help strengthen bilateral trade relations and support American agricultural goods throughout the Asia Pacific region.
   Vilsack is the first sitting American Secretary of Agriculture to visit Vietnam.
   In Vietnam, Vilsack will meet with Vietnamese officials, talk with agricultural students, and thank U.S. food and agricultural businesses for bolstering the U.S. economy. Vilsack will travel to China as part of the Obama Administration’s delegation attending meetings for the 22nd Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.
   “In terms of exports, we are experiencing the best years in America’s history,” Vilsack told attendees at the National Journal‘s Healthy Food, Healthy Planet Policy Summit in Washington. “Partnerships with growing markets like those in China and Vietnam are integral to the strength of the U.S. economy in the decades ahead.”
   In 2011, China moved ahead of Mexico and Canada as the United States’ No 1 market for U.S. agricultural goods. Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and an important market for U.S. agricultural products, now valued at $1.3 billion. In the past decade, Vietnam jumped from the 50th to 15th position as a market for U.S. farm exports.
   This year and next, U.S. agricultural exports are on track to reach new highs of $137 billion, leading to a trade surplus of over $42 billion, eight times greater than five years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture noted.
   Last week, President Obama signed new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. When implemented, these three agreements will increase farm exports by an additional $2.3 billion — supporting nearly 20,000 American jobs — by eliminating tariffs, removing barriers to trade and leveling the playing field for U.S. producers.