AFBF: Farmers Are Running Out Of Patience

Ask the American Farmer Bureau Federation, and they’ll tell you farmers across the U.S. are running out of patience for a trade deal with China.  AFBF President Zippy Duvall conveyed that urgency to President Trump last week, telling the President the escalating tariff war with China on top of a six-year downturn in farm prices, has produced “near-unprecedented economic uncertainty and hardship.”

Farm Bureau trade chief Dave Salmonsen said producers were hoping a deal would have been reached the first week of May.

“And now it’s going to take longer.  Still have hopes it’ll be resolved, but it’s not going to be done, where we thought it would; come to a resolution, hopefully, with reducing or eliminating tariffs, potential purchases of U.S. Ag products; that seems to be put off for the future.”

Duvall asked the President for a “swift resolution” to the trade war with China.  Salmonsen said any deal may have to come in pieces.

“I look at this, and I think a lot of people look at this, as a series of agreements, and not just one big agreement; meaning that our engagement with China, of course, will continue, there’s the focus, of course, on the ongoing trade deficit and how do we bring that down—that’s where the purchases come in.”

Salmonsen added poor spring planting weather and fear of losing markets, has added to the angst across the U.S.

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