Over the weekend, President Donald Trump took executive action to impose or threaten new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. These countries are important markets for U.S. agriculture, especially in terms of corn and ethanol exports. Rob Elliott with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board says the United States needs to be careful as it navigates trade because it is currently experiencing a trade imbalance.
“We actually import more food than what we send out in exports, which kind of a troubling thought, after we were the world’s leading exporter of food,” says Elliott.
He adds the United States was the ‘bread basket provider’ until the last few years.
“Those dynamics have kind of flipped back to some South American business developing, China’s movement to other parts of the world for their needs, and some of that BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China, South America) following that goes with them. And then we find ourselves kind of on the outside looking in, and in that respect, so disheartening a little bit.”
According to a Reuters report, the goods trade deficit surged 18 percent to $122.1 billion in December.
