The Trump administration today unveiled trade actions against China that will likely spur significant retaliatory measures aimed at US agricultural products. The move is in response to a US Trade Representative office investigation on China’s violations of intellectual property rights.

National Farmers Union (NFU), a family farmer-led organisation who supports aggressive efforts to fight unfair trade practices, lamented the administration’s apparent lack of a plan to safeguard the interests of family farmers. NFU President Roger Johnson released the following statement:

Our trade agenda for the past 30 years has been to promote free trade at all costs, ignoring countries cheating on intellectual property rights and currency manipulation. While we’re appreciative of the administration’s focus on creating fair trade between the US and our trading partners, their ‘bull in a china shop’ approach to fixing our trade woes is dangerous.

Family farmers and ranchers are always the first to be hit by retaliatory tariffs, and in the case of China, significant exports markets are likely to be the first casualty. NFU is very concerned about the effects that China’s proposed retaliatory efforts would have on all agricultural products, particularly given our already burdensome inventories of grains. The President must have a plan in place to protect family farmers before seeking to remedy unfair trade practices.

As reported by NFU