00:00Ambassador, again, thank you for your presence here this afternoon.
00:05A couple of things I want to add to what you've been asked.
00:11First of all, let me start with agriculture.
00:13And the challenge, I think, is that at least when it comes to soybeans and grain sorghum,
00:19China is such a significant purchaser, or has been historically,
00:24that it's hard to overcome that with other trade agreements on a bilateral basis.
00:28But where are the greatest opportunities for agriculture to work?
00:33If you were taking a trade mission and you're a farmer or farm group in Kansas,
00:38India is one that comes to mind particularly for grain sorghum,
00:41and yet it's such a difficult country to crack.
00:45What is your plan? How do you overcome that?
00:49And China complicates the need for agriculture producers in Kansas and across the country
00:55to be able to sell their commodities to China complicates the issues that you face
01:01in trying to get a trade agreement, a better trade agreement with China.
01:07Rare earth minerals is certainly a component of that,
01:10but in addition to that, in the United States,
01:13that purchase of those commodities is critical to the economy of many rural states.
01:19We have to remember and keep in mind that China's economy is like a square
01:28and ours is like a circle, and they just don't fit together well all the time.
01:32And so we have to find a way to manage that trade.
01:35And I know that our farmers would love to just have free,
01:39unfettered access into every market in the world,
01:41and we're achieving that with a lot of markets right now, which is great.
01:46You know, with China, they have a different system.
01:49They're probably not going to change their entire system for us,
01:52but they know they benefit from having our soybeans.
01:55You know, I know they like to buy from Brazil, but they need our beans too.
01:58They need our sorghum. They need all of this.
02:00And so it makes sense to have, you know, purchase arrangements with them
02:04because it's a way to kind of, you know, have a square and a circle go together.
02:09So for sure we believe that.
02:12We also think that it's helpful to diversify.
02:14And that's why, you know, Vietnam has already reduced its tariffs for us on soybeans,
02:20and they can go a little lower on that.
02:22Cambodia has already reduced theirs.
02:23You mentioned India.
02:25You know, I have a team over there right now as we speak in New Delhi working on this.
02:29There's resistance in India to certain row crops and other meats and products.
02:36Like you said, you said, you know, they're very difficult in that to crack.
02:39I agree with that 100%, but they've been quite forward-leaning.
02:43The type of offers they've been talking to us about have been the best we've ever received as a country.
02:48So, you know, I think that's a viable alternative market.
02:52You know, and then we talk about, you know, there are biofuels.
02:56There are other countries that want biofuels that can be derived from soybeans.
02:58So we're having – we're trying to, you know, kind of touch every base in every country to make sure we can be diversified.
03:05And, of course, we want to maintain that relationship with China.
03:07You know, they need our product, and we want to sell it.
03:10You touched on one of my points that was going to be is that biofuels is another component of how we can export agriculture commodities.
03:20And it has the advantage of having some processing jobs created by the creation of biofuels.
03:25I'd also highlight I chair a caucus of the Senate on SAF, sustainable aviation fuel, another opportunity within the biofuels realm.
03:35What's the prognosis on ethanol and other biofuels, soy diesel and others, in the global economy as far as trade?
03:44Well, certainly with ethanol, you know, that's been an area of broad market access.
03:50You know, we have a huge new quota that we've obtained in the United Kingdom.
03:54We have a lot of other countries who, during our negotiations, have agreed to open their markets for U.S. ethanol.
03:59So that's a big win.
04:01You know, with SAF, we have the European Union that has agreed to a commitment to buy $750 billion in U.S. energy products over the next few years.
04:09You know, that includes oil and gas, but also anything else like biofuel or SAF.
04:13So there are – and that's a major market, obviously.
04:15This is certainly outside USTR, but the photo that's behind me came from a number of years ago when I was in Kensington, Kansas,
04:28and driving down a street called Railroad Avenue, which normally in small towns lend itself to going by the grain elevator.
04:34I could hardly see the grain elevator because of the grain sorghum that is piled on the ground because there's no space in the elevator.
04:44This was and has now returned to be the circumstance in communities across Kansas.
04:50And so it highlights the magnitude of what we have to sell and how important your job is.
04:59Again, the part that is outside your realm, but as an advocate for farmers that you are,
05:07I would highlight the importance of food aid programs.
05:12USDA has those, Food for Peace, McGovern-Dole.
05:18Legislation that Senator Hovind and I are involved in bring those programs, that program,
05:23into the Department of Agriculture from USAID and the State Department.
05:27We're trying to find the right place in this administration in which feeding hungry people around the globe has a future.
05:38And I would encourage you to advocate as you have conversations with the Department of Agriculture or the State Department
05:45that there is more that can be done outside of trade agreements than is being done in feeding people who are hungry and or starving.
05:55And I think the number, the last number I knew that are feeding hungry people globally represented about 13% of the market of commodities in the United States.
06:0613% in today's world is not an inconsequential figure.
06:12And all I'm asking of you is that in your discussions within the administration,
06:21would you please highlight the opportunity that can be made outside USTR as far as what is a market for agriculture commodities grown in the United States?
06:32And it has the additional moral component of feeding people who are hungry.
06:38I will do that.
06:40And I'll try to be even more concrete and have my staff talk to yours to make sure that there's an actual concrete path forward on this, right?
06:48That'd be very useful.
06:50Let me see.
06:51Oh, I want to thank you for it.
06:54You told me you would do something and you did it time and time again.
06:57And it is easy to talk about soybeans, but I want to make sure that grain sorghum was included.
07:02And I'm watching your press release and your press comments in Southeast Asia.
07:08You were there to highlight the importance of grain sorghum.
07:12And then, in addition to an agricultural state, we got a number of things, how we earn a living in Kansas.
07:18But one of the significant ones is aviation.
07:20And you have, in your negotiations in the past with the United Kingdom, with South Korea, Japan, the European Union,
07:30you've established the zero-for-zero tariffs that was created in a 1979 agreement.
07:35You've continued that practice, that policy.
07:38And I want to encourage that to continue as you negotiate with India or Brazil or Singapore.
07:49Can you provide me an update in your thought process on the continuation of the 1979 agreement?
07:56Again, I would highlight that aerospace is one of the, perhaps not the best, but one of the best,
08:01in which we have the ability to export a lot more than we import.
08:08And the parts and relationships that we have, particularly under USMCA with Canada and Mexico,
08:14in aviation remain hugely important.
08:17Yes.
08:17As you know, I lived in Wichita, the air capital.
08:19So this is a sector that's important to me.
08:23And as we've gone through and we've accomplished our trade deals with countries,
08:27this is an area where we've agreed to give them, you know, no reciprocal tariff.
08:32Again, recognizing the 1979 agreement and the status of the industry in America as a net exporter.
08:40You know, with Brazil, India, Singapore, you know, we don't have deals yet with these countries.
08:44With India, it's fairly far advanced.
08:47You know, in my expectation, you know, we can certainly talk about, you know,
08:51extending treatment to those countries as well if they're willing to, you know,
08:54play ball and come to the table and give the United States the market access it should have.
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