With all the challenges impacting agriculture, tariffs imposed by President Trump are getting a lot of criticism, even in agriculture.
Kam Quarles, CEO at the National Potato Council, says tariffs create leverage and that leverage creates opportunity, but you’ve got to use the leverage in the right way.
“If you go all the way back to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, that was a product of that tariff leverage generating what I think a lot of people feel, almost ten years later, was a very useful trade agreement.”
But tariffs are not a long-term solution.
“The tariffs can work out well, but if you leave them on permanently, it can create a lot of volatility. But in the short term, it’s a great negotiating tactic to get to a better deal.”
Bottom line, Quarles says you can always have too much of a good thing.
“And it’s a balance. You want to have a better deal for American producers. You don’t want to encourage foreign competitors to start going around the United States and creating more advantageous agreements with each other rather than with us.”
Quarles says more countries have been coming back to the negotiating table, so fingers crossed, he hopes that continues.