As we all continue to wait for pen to meet paper on a Phase One trade deal between the US and China and for more details on the pact, Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) spoke with Hoosier Ag Today last week and weighed in.
Braun believes President Trump played this one right, saying someone had to take them on.
“There’s no other major world player that does the things that they do out of sync with normal behavior. Intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers, producing huge gluts and dumping them on the market, manipulating currencies to try to benefit them…there needed to be someone, and I think President Trump did that. Farmers were universally with him.”
And, like farmers, Braun wants to start seeing the proof from China in the way of ag purchases.
“Whatever we agree to now, I say be careful. Verify, make sure they’re doing it, because in the long run they’re playing for keeps. If they played by the rules, we have to accept them as a valid competitor. When they break all the rules, they need to be called out on it.”
Hear the full interview with Braun by clicking the play button below. He discusses a timeline for USMCA passage in the Senate, healthcare for farmers, and, of course, China.
Braun on USMCA, China, and Healthcare