A total of 87 organizations and companies from the food and agriculture sector, which supports more than 15 million jobs nationally, sent President Donald J. Trump a letter this week highlighting the importance of trade with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the industry’s interest in working with the administration to build strong trade relationships with the world’s largest market for food and agriculture.
“Reducing and eliminating tariffs and other restrictive agricultural policies in this region will help American workers in our sector compete, creating an opportunity to supply Asian markets with high-quality food and agricultural goods,” the letter says.
“We hope your administration will create such opportunities for our sector by deepening U.S. economic engagement in this critical region while responding to the Asia-only regional trade agreements being negotiated by our foreign competitors. While many in our sector strongly supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we hope future agreements build upon the valuable aspects of that agreement to increase our market access in the Asia-Pacific.
“We welcome an opportunity to work with your Administration to ensure that America’s farmers, ranchers, processors and food companies do not fall behind our foreign peers in this vitally important economic region,” the letter adds.
More details on the importance of Asia-Pacific trade and its value to the U.S. food and agriculture industry is available at www.ers.usda.gov.