With the anticipation of more Chinese agricultural purchases after President Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping last week, some are taking a more tempered approach to the news. Francis Rooney, a former ambassador to the Holy See under George W. Bush and a congressman from Florida, says China will always be a problematic trading partner.
“I think it’s always going to be political with us and China, and they may buy soybeans now, they may not buy them later, they got to get the soybeans from somewhere. If they don’t get them from us, they get them from Brazil.”
Rooney is critical of Trump invading Iran and puts the blame squarely on the president for the current high fuel and input prices farmers are facing.
“I think they should understand what a menace Trump has been in doing this reckless act, and hope that he will, with enough political pressure, he will find a solution to this thing, regardless of what it is, to get the Strait of Hormuz opened back up.”
Rooney also says Trump’s tariffs on trading partners are doing more harm than good.
“They’ve never created any net positive benefit, and they’ve cost a lot of people a lot of hardship, going back to the Hawley-Smoot tariff in the ‘30s, and these tariffs that Trump’s put on aren’t, I don’t think they’re doing anybody any good, not even raising that much money, they’re just putting a lot of hardship on producers, supply chains and ultimately on customers.”
Trump said extending the tariff truce was not discussed with Xi.