Bill Northey addressed his concerns at a recent convention
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have publically opposed some trade deals, and that concerns Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.
“Trade is hugely important,” Northey said at a recent National Association of County Office Employees’ convention, according to the Sioux City Journal. “We ship almost 40 percent of our soybeans overseas and 70 percent of our exports go to China.”
When it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, both candidates said they’re not in favor of the deal.
“I’m going to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified,” Trump said at a June campaign stop in Ohio, before adding that the deal is being pushed by special interests.
Hillary Clinton’s stance on TPP appears to have changed during the presidential campaign.
According to CNN, Clinton showed support for TPP on 45 different occasions, but now opposes the deal.
“I did hope that the TPP, negotiated by this administration, I was holding out hope that it would be the kind of trade agreement that I was looking for. Once I saw the outcome, I opposed it,” Clinton said in a February 2016 debate in New Hampshire.
The uncertainty of TPP and other trade deals has Northey worried about the impact on farmers and the rest of the U.S.
“It’s not only important for the ag community, but for the country,” Northey told the Sioux City Journal. “It would seem like it would make sense for us to be very careful about things that could damage (trade) and try to be aggressive in those things that could improve that.”