Kansas Senator Jerry Moran is one of a handful of U.S. Senators who are in Beijing, China, ahead of next Thursday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Senator Moran says, besides meeting with officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, they’ve been busy meeting with Chinese officials.
“We met with the premier, the number two person in the Chinese government, the head of the legislature and the foreign minister, all with a message about wanting success in the summit that President Trump and President Xi is conducting. And in particular, of course, the focus for me and a number of my colleagues has been the need for China to reach agreements and to actually abide by those agreements, import from the United States our agriculture commodities. And in every conversation, we’ve had, it’s been about beef, soybeans and grain sorghum, and really a longer list than that. And some of the members that I’m traveling with, senators that I’m traveling with, they’ve been talking about fruits and vegetables and dairy, but the common denominator has been beef.”
Moran says based on the meetings between the senators and Chinese officials, there’s an expectation that something is going to happen regarding agriculture.
“No one would say there’s going to be a deal, but the way they used the words implied that there is a deal in the works in regard to agriculture commodities and in regard to beef from the meetings with President Trump and President Xi. There was a couple of times in which there’s a caveat, that something they’re complaining about the United States and what we are doing. So, I mean, all these negotiations are give-and-take, but I think there’s a real belief that agriculture will see some benefit.”
Moran says there’s no doubt that agriculture will be one of President Trump’s highest priorities for the good of farmers and ranchers. Senator Moran was one of five Senators who are China. The other Senators include Republicans Steve Daines of Montana, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and Mike Lee of Utah.