Leaders at the American Farm Bureau said the organization will continue to press for binding market access agreements, despite President Biden’s anti-free trade deal policy.
“We’re pressing for market access wherever we can. We want better trade relationships with a lot of countries. I think he will have a portfolio in that job to express the needs for American agriculture in trade,” said Dave Salmonsen, AFBF Government Affairs Senior Director.
Salmonsen paints McKalip’s role, in part, as a listening post or a bridge between the ag community and the White House.
“There’ll be a lot of attention paid, through his office, to these issues from the outside, from both the ag stakeholder community, from the Hill, from Congress, and he’ll have to deal with that,” Salmonsen said.
He does not expect McKalip to change the Administration’s approach to trade but suggests Farm Bureau will not be shy about delivering its longstanding message on trade.
“Greater market access. We’ve said that, and we’ll say it again. We’d like to see more engagement to get towards real binding agreements in the future. That’s a consistent message from us,” Salmonsen said.
McKalip insists that short of new trade deals, we will push to expand ag trade in the UK, Indo-Pacific, Latin America, and parts of Africa.
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