Trump thanked farmers for supporting him through the China trade war
AUSTIN, Texas – President Donald Trump on Sunday thanked farmers for supporting him through a trade war with China as he promotes a new North American trade agreement and a separate agreement with China that he says will greatly benefit farmers.
“We did it,” Trump said, recalling his campaign’s commitment to improving America’s trade relations with other countries.
Speaking at a convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Trump said he had gained strong support among farmers since signing a preliminary trade agreement with China last week.
When Trump spoke to the American Farm Bureau Federation last year, he urged farmers to continue supporting him even after he was financially damaged by his trade war with China and partial shutdown by the federal government.
His follow-up speech Sunday at this year’s convention in Austin, Texas, gave him the opportunity to sue farmers that he had pledged as a candidate to improve trade with China and separately with Canada and Mexico.
He thanked the farmers for being in the “fight”.
“You’ve always been with me,” Trump said. “You never thought of giving up and we did.”
The Republican president wants to stay in office for another term and wants to increase support within his base, including the peasantry.
Trump has announced that he is taking steps to protect the water rights of farmers and ranchers by instructing the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately repeal a new water supply rule and allow states to operate water resources based on their own needs and what the farming community wants.
“Water is the lifeblood of agriculture and we will always protect your water supply,” Trump said.
Trump signed a preliminary trade agreement with China at the White House on Wednesday, promising Beijing that it would increase imports of US manufacturing, energy and agricultural products to 200 200 billion this year and next. That includes larger purchases of soybeans and other farm supplies expected to reach $ 40 billion a year, the United States said, although critics are wondering if China can meet the targets.
In Austin, Trump described the trade deal with China as “groundbreaking” and said, “We’re going to sell the biggest product you’ve ever seen.”
Also last week, the Senate voted overwhelmingly
Trump told Austin that U.S. farmers would also benefit under the USMCA, which he said would “greatly increase exports” for farmers, ranchers, farmers “from north to south” and “from sea to bright sea.”
NAFTA initiated trade growth between the three countries, but Trump and other critics blamed it for the loss of U.S. jobs when American factories shifted production south of the border to take advantage of lower wages.
The House passed the US-Mexico-Canada agreement in December. Trump said he would sign it after returning from a tour of Europe this week.
In his remarks aimed at farmers, Trump claimed that his administration was doing something no other administration has done.
“And what can I get out of it? I get sued,” he said. “That’s what I get. By these far-left lunatics, I get sued.
The President’s trial in the Senate is in full swing on Tuesday.
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Darlene Superville, Associated Press
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