March 27, 2024

 

US House hearing scrutinised China's alleged impact on US agriculture

 

 

The US House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on March 20 to discuss the threats China poses to US agriculture.

 

The issue has gained political prominence over the past several years and is poised to be a main campaign issue in the 2024 elections.

 

Opening the hearing, Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, said: "The People's Republic of China, governed by the Chinese Communist Party, has gone out of its way to reduce its reliance on American agriculture, all the while aggressively pursuing tactics that threaten our nation's ability to feed itself. These last few years have seen China steal US intellectual property, hack critical cybersecurity and related infrastructure, weaponise agricultural trade and acquire American farmland at an alarming rate. Each of these disrupt our national security, our rural communities and our resiliency."

 

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem testified at the hearing and described efforts by Chinese nationals last summer to tour farms in her state. The State Department later informed Noem that the individuals were spies looking to steal crop genetics and intellectual property.

 

Bipartisan members of the Committee expressed concern over China's actions purchasing farmland, especially close to sensitive military installations, and vowed to take further steps to combat Chinese investment in these areas.

 

In another development, nearly half of the Republican members of the Senate recently sent a letter to US President Joe Biden's administration to voice concern for the lack of trade opportunities for US agricultural exports.

 

The senators highlighted the US$17 billion decline in agriculture exports in the previous fiscal year and the forecast of another US$8 billion drop this year.

 

"[W]e urge the Biden administration to immediately take action to improve the competitiveness of US agricultural products abroad and reverse this trend," they wrote. "We expect trade to fluctuate in response to macroeconomic factors and market conditions. However, the current sharp decline in US agricultural exports is directly attributable to and exacerbated by an unambitious US trade strategy that is failing to meaningfully expand market access or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade."

 

The group requested that US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack identify specific actions they intend to take to increase agricultural exports. They also asked the officials whether the Biden administration intends to pursue new or improved free trade agreements in 2024 to expand market access.

- National Hog Farmer