The United States might still be fighting with some of its trading partners, including Canada, but it is doing it in a way that boosts public support for trade agreements, said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“I think it’s important for us to rebuild a sense of trust in trading relationships,” said Vilsack during a supply chain discussion Jan. 31.
“How do you do that? You do it by enforcing trade agreements.”
The U.S. was recently successful with a United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement complaint against Canada’s dairy industry, arguing that Canada had failed to meet its commitments on dairy imports.
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It has also been pressuring China to buy more U.S. agricultural products to fulfil its “phase one” commitments of the Trump-era trade deal that froze a growing trade war between the two countries.
The country is also working to reduce trade barriers in countries like India and Vietnam, Vilsack said.
Rather than seeing these disputes and disagreements as undermining agreements, Vilsack said the public should see them as evidence that agreements can work.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, during congressional hearings confirming her appointment last year.
While combative, they show a different viewpoint than was common in the Trump years, when trade agreements were denigrated or ignored.
Vilsack said many Americans have come to see trade as a winners-and-losers game, and that hurts acceptance of trade agreements. They don’t see the back-and-forth reality of trade benefits.
“When you talk about exports, people think about trade,” said Vilsack.
“When they think of trade, they’ve been encouraged to think that we’re getting the short end of the stick on trade agreements, and that puts them in a negative standpoint.”
