Trade around the globe is very competitive. While we like to hang our hat on the reliability and the quality of our products around the globe. However, this is challenging because, currently, other countries can offer products cheaper, or they have better trade agreements than we do. This is why it is important for us to have trade trips over to other countries. It helps us connect with our partners face-to-face and talk about what we have to offer. This is not only important for the nation, but for the state of Iowa as well.
Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig recently took a trade trip to the Philippines and Vietnam. While they aren?t our largest trading partners by any means, Secretary Naig sees great potential for growth.
While the potential is there, it is going to be hard to develop a larger market share in these countries. Naig talks about the trade disadvantage we have in getting our products into those countries. The tariffs we are facing are crippling us in the marketplace, and there seems to be no urgency to change that on the Federal level.
Naig says that with the global economy being in the situation it is, it is more important than ever for us to bolster our trade agreements, to promote our reliability, consistency, and quality to the world. And we need to ensure our policies and legislation support that.
Naig says that one or two high-production years in another country do not guarantee consistency or quality.
