WASHINGTON, D.C. – After several recent meetings with farmers and ranchers across North Dakota, U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to express the frustration and concerns she’s hearing from North Dakota agricultural producers and other industry leaders about the administration's trade policies. 

Heitkamp has repeatedly pushed to meet with Lighthizer and other top administration officials to advocate for smart trade policies that protect and open markets for North Dakota producers – not a trade war that threatens the state’s rural economy. At a recent meeting with President Trump at the White House, Heitkamp pushed for an end to the escalation of the trade war that is hurting North Dakota’s economy. 

Today’s meeting comes after Heitkamp hosted a series of meetings with farmers and ranchers across North Dakota, where trade was the top concern raised by everyone from corn, soybean, and barley growers to biofuel producers, cattle ranchers, and North Dakota manufacturers. Tomorrow, Heitkamp will meet with North Dakota soybean growers in Washington.

“As I’ve repeatedly told Ambassador Lighthizer, this trade war is misguided and damaging to North Dakota’s economy, which relies heavily on exporting the food, energy, and products we proudly produce for the world,” Heitkamp said. “We should be taking proactive steps to improve our trade agreements and build new markets – instead, the administration has tossed a wrench of uncertainty into the gears that keep our rural economy moving forward. I talk to farmers and ranchers nearly every day, and their top concern is resolving this trade war quickly in a way that protects their access to markets. I again brought these concerns to Ambassador Lighthizer, and I urged him take the concerns of North Dakota producers to heart while pursuing a more strategic way to boost U.S. exports.”

Last week, the administration imposed tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods as Heitkamp held meetings in Mandan, Minot, Carrington, and Wahpeton to talk about trade and the Farm Bill. China immediately imposed $34 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans and other agricultural products, targeting nearly all of North Dakota’s agricultural exports to the country as well as North Dakota’s energy exports.

Also last week, Canada announced new tariffs on U.S. goods following the administration’s escalation of a trade war with North Dakota’s largest foreign markets.

The trade war threatens over $60 million in North Dakota exports, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which estimates that over 111,000 jobs in North Dakota are supported by trade. Click here to read the Chamber’s report on North Dakota.

The European Union (EU) recently responded to the administration’s escalation of its trade war by imposing retaliatory tariffs on $3.4 billion in U.S. goods, including supply chain materials for agriculture and construction machinery, which accounts for 50 percent of North Dakota’s exports to the EU.

North Dakota manufacturers are already feeling the negative consequences of the trade war. Prices for raw materials have gone up, and uncertainty has clouded their business prospects.

The tariffs on American goods imposed by the EU come after the administration imposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, saying they were necessary for national security reasons. Heitkamp recently joined U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) leading a bipartisan group of eight other senators in introducing legislation to require congressional approval of tariffs designated for national security reasons. Heitkamp also cosponsored bipartisan legislation introduced by Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona to nullify the aluminum and steel tariffs.

Background:

Heitkamp has continued to press for smart trade policies that support North Dakota’s farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers by:

• Pressing top officials since the beginning of this administration to protect and expand markets for North Dakota goods. Heitkamp has met with the U.S. Agriculture Secretary (USDA), U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), U.S Commerce Secretary, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S., and many other top U.S. administration officials – many of them several times – to explain that the U.S. needs smart trade policies to allow our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers to reach new markets – not tariffs, uncertainty with NAFTA, or hostility toward our top trading partners. In February 2017, when she first met with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, when he was a nominee for the position, the bulk of their conversation focused on trade.

• Supporting bipartisan legislation to stop the tariffs. Heitkamp recently joined U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) leading a bipartisan group of eight other senators in introducing legislation to require congressional approval of tariffs designated for national security reasons. Heitkamp also cosponsored bipartisan legislation introduced by Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona to nullify the aluminum and steel tariffs.

• Outlining her agenda to strengthen and protect North Dakota’s agriculture and energy industries. During a meeting with USTR Robert Lighthizer earlier this year, Heitkamp laid out her top four priorities to support North Dakota workers, farmers, and businesses by enabling them to export their products abroad, and recently spoke out against the administration’s escalating trade war with China, which also threatens North Dakota’s main industries – energy, agriculture, and manufacturing.

• Raising concerns about impacts of retaliatory tariffs on industries vital to North Dakota’s economy like agriculture and manufacturing. Heitkamp recently toured WCCO Belting, Inc. in Wahpeton and heard firsthand the concerns the North Dakota manufacturer has about trade wars and its ability to export its goods. Over half of WCCO’s sales are to international customers, making trade an essential part of its business model.

• Speaking out against tariffs and uncertainty regarding NAFTA that would put the state’s economy at risk. Heitkamp has met with farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers across North Dakota to talk about the need for smart trade policies that support North Dakota. She penned op-eds in March 2017 and again in April 2018 making the case. In February, she also did an episode on her podcast, The Hotdish, about NAFTA and the importance of trade for agriculture. For the episode, she interviewed the former U.S. agricultural trade negotiator and a North Dakota barley farmer. Heitkamp recently brought a group of North Dakota agriculture leaders to the Mexican Embassy in Washington to talk about the importance of NAFTA and reinforce their commitment to a strong relationship with their customers in Mexico.

• Pressing for analysis about the impact of the administration’s trade policies on small businesses. Heitkamp recently called on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy to analyze the impact of the administration’s tariff policies on American small businesses. Small businesses represent nearly 99 percent of all businesses in North Dakota, and support nearly 60 percent of all jobs in the state, according to SBA.

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