Newhouse: Farmers Need Clarity When It Comes To Trade

Critics have complained that much of the trade talks are taking place in the media, which won’t help the U.S. reach deals with our close trading partners or China.  While President Trump doesn’t shy away from making his thoughts known in the public eye, Representative Dan Newhouse is confident work to get the U.S. updated trade deals is taking place outside of the spotlight.

“Like the President said, something he had like 200 trade deals cooking right now and that's absolutely happening behind closed doors," Newhouse said.  "I hope that that's all accurate. He gave himself another pause, 90 days to work on trade deals, and we need to get those in place. And so, I hope they're taking advantage of every precious moment they have.” 

The central Washington Republican acknowledged that three months is not a large window to come up with over 100 bilateral trade deals and negotiate all of the details.

“We need some certainty, and you know, our agricultural producers in the state of Washington, we are one of the most trade reliant states in the country as you know," Newhouse added.  "And we need to have some clarity. Before a lot of our products began to harvest and so I hope that they're working as hard as they can to get that stuff done.”

Newhouse added he feels the Administration understands the pressure these tariffs are putting on farmers already facing a weakened Ag economy.

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