Mike Pompeo laughs as Lowa farmers agonise over retaliatory tariffs from China, Mexico

We’re still dealing with retaliatory tariffs, not only from China but also from Mexico. The pork industry is very important to the state of Iowa and really the whole Midwest, and we’ve really taken a double whammy

Emmanuel Ukudolo l Tuesday, March 05, 2019

LOWA, United States – Farmers dealing in Soyabean, corn, pork meat and others are not finding things easy in Lowa, Wichita(Kansas) and other states in the United States as a result of retaliatory tariffs from China and Mexico and it appears, that the journey is still far as Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo laughs as farmers took turns to table their plights during his visit to Lowa.

John Maxwell (ph), eastern Iowa dairyman had requested Mike Pompeo to comment on the timeframe for the signing and implementation of the United States Mexico, Canada Agreement(USMCA), noting that things are getting tougher and tougher every day that marches on.

But Secretary Pompeo  said: Yeah – no. (Laughter.) You remember how I said I’d answer almost anything? It’s just – I’m not trying to be short or – I – or not take your question seriously. I do. I am – the President is too – is enormously sympathetic to what you all are going through, but I wouldn’t want to predict a date or a week or how this is going to fall. I’ve been part of too many of these negotiations that truly – they look they’re home, they look like you see a path forward, only to find that there was something buried somewhere. And that’s risk that happens here as well, he said.

Another farmer who  who identifies himself as a big farmer in central Iowa said: Our family has been involved in pork production, corn, soybeans as well. We’re still dealing with retaliatory tariffs, not only from China but also from Mexico. The pork industry is very important to the state of Iowa and really the whole Midwest, and we’ve really taken a double whammy. And requested Pompeo to address the Mexican issue as well.

Replying to his queries, Secretary Pompeo affirmed that the risk of retaliatory tariffs have been seen in pork.  “We’ve seen it in other places as well – is real”, he said, adding “the President is deeply aware of this. The trade teams are all aware. We’re working –  we now have a relatively comprehensive agreement in the USMCA. We are working to clean up all of these issues alongside of that”, he told the farmers.

He expressed optimism that the United States will get resolution to pulled back some of these risks from retaliatory tariffs.

“But I do want to emphasize those commitments are as good as the paper they’re written on if there’s not a mechanism that permits the United States to respond in a way that doesn’t require us going into court someplace in a country that doesn’t have the rule of law, that doesn’t have an advanced justice system.

“There’s  a long history of us having celebrations, having signing ceremonies, everyone thinking, boy, we’ve put this problem to rest, only to find that in relatively short order we didn’t really solve much. And we’re trying to make original mistakes, not repeat the past ones.

“We’re trying to make sure we don’t fall the same trap that American trade negotiators have done so many times. We’re deeply aware of these retaliatory tariff issues. We know how they much impact you and companies – businesses like yours. Know that they’re in the front of our mind and we’re working our way to put America in a place where our businesses don’t suffer ”, Pompeo assured.

Another farmer in the region noted that soybean farmers have been hit particularly hard with the tariffs but asked: “We’ve heard comments that maybe tariffs could be dropped on certain products or commodities. I – and I know in the negotiating process you can’t show your cards, but is there a chance that tariffs on soybeans could be dropped in exchange for something else, make some concessions, and then some of these more tricky issues like intellectual property that take a lot of time and a lot of work could be put off or worked on – continued to be worked on while there’s some relief for some of the agricultural products.

But Pompeo referred the farmer to the interaction President Donald Trump had with the Chinese. “I think it was on Friday of last week he asked the Chinese, given the status of the negotiations and the fact that he made the decision on the 1st of March not to increase tariffs – something that he had previously said that he would do – he picked a date certain – he’d asked them to reduce some piece of their tariffs as well. The best I know, we haven’t received a formal response to that, he said.

Pompeo agreed with another farmer who identified himself as a corn farmer in northeast Iowa who said  hog producers, cattle producer and some soybean farmers invest money in commodity checkoffs that help build these markets, adding that American farmers rely heavily on investing in these markets and building them over time and that they are very important channels in the distribution chain.