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“Who knows? Truly, who knows what is going to happen with China?”
That question was posed by Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney on a webinar with Indiana corn and soybean growers Thursday.
Despite rising tensions between the US and China, McKinney remains bullish that the Phase One trade deal will still happen for a few reasons. One being that China cares deeply about their image.
“You need to remember that they signed a very sizeable agreement, on a very public stage in the East Room of the White House.”
Reason number two is that, “They really do like, even love, the quality, the safety, and, in many cases, the volumes of our products. And that includes a lot of stuff from Indiana,” says McKinney. “I’m thinking of pork. In some cases poultry; mostly broilers, corn, soy, and all the derivatives thereof, ethanol for example. And they need our product.
McKinney says reason number three is something that we won’t read about because of the lack of a First Amendment there, “But they really, really need the U. S. business. They’d like to make sure they’re getting their employees back to work, like we are, as a result of COVID.”
So, for those reasons and conversations with traders, “I continue to be optimistic that they will meet, or at least closely meet, Phase One which is that $36.5 to $40 billion or more,” McKinney told the group. “I think we need to continue to treat the market that way and treat our planning that way.”
The webinar was hosted by the Indiana Corn Growers Association and Indiana Soybean Alliance.