President Trump cheered the landmark United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and China trade deals and their potential benefits to American farmers during a speech Sunday evening in Austin, Texas.
The speech marked the president’s third appearance at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and Trade Show.
“We did it,” Trump began, recalling his campaign promises to improve trade relations with China and the U.S.’s North American neighbors.
President Trump speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s convention in Austin.
(AP)
The speech gave Trump the opportunity to make the case that he kept those promises, and that farmers stood to benefit from both pacts.
Trump signed a preliminary trade deal with China at the White House last Wednesday, committing Beijing to increase imports of U.S. manufacturing, energy, and farm goods by $200 billion in 2020 and 20201. That included larger purchases of soybeans and other farm goods expected to reach $40 billion a year, U.S. officials said.
“They hit ‘paydirt’ with our incredible new Trade Deals: CHINA, JAPAN, MEXICO, CANADA, SOUTH KOREA, and many others!” Trump tweeted shortly before flying in from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Austin, mentioning U.S. trade agreements with two additional Asian countries.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of USMCA, a successor to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Trump repeatedly has blamed NAFTA for U.S. job losses brought about when American factories moved production to Mexico to take advantage of low-wage labor. The administration designed the new agreement to return some factory production to the United States.
In Austin, Trump said U.S. farmers will benefit under USMCA, which he said will “massively boost exports” for farmers, ranchers, growers from “North to South” and “from sea to shining sea.”
He also described the trade agreement with China as “groundbreaking” and said, “We’re going to sell the greatest product you’ve ever seen.”
The House passed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada deal in December and Trump is expected to sign it soon.
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The president told his audience that his administration was doing things no other administration has ever done.
“What do I get out of it? I get impeached,” he said. “That’s what I get. By these radical-left lunatics, I get impeached. But that’s OK. The farmers are sticking with Trump.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
