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NCGA CEO wants to see trade positions filled
While there seems to be forward momentum from the Biden Administration on the trade front, the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association would like to see more.
The USDA is currently abroad on their first in-person trade mission since the start of the pandemic. NCGA’s Jon Doggett tells Brownfield while that face to face trade communication is encouraging, trade positions still need filled within the administration.
“We’ve been very disappointed that there hasn’t been an appointment for an undersecretary for trade at USDA. That is a key position and to not have the filled, or even have a person named is really troubling. The trade negotiator at USTR has been named but no confirmation hearings have been scheduled yet, and that is another very important position that needs filled.”
He says action on the trade front has been slow and he hopes that is starting to pick back up.
“We would certainly like to see a huge expansion of trade agreements. We need to be engaged in dozens of trade agreements, rather than just two or three. Right now we have tome trade type agreements that are kind of coming forward, but they are not the usual trade agreements we have seen in the past.”
Brownfield interviewed Doggett at the Grain and Feed Association of Illinois Convention in St. Louis Monday.
