Senate Confirms Tai for U.S. Trade Representative

The U.S. Senate today confirmed Katherine Tai to serve as U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), overseeing the development and promotion of U.S. trade policy.

In her prior role as Chief Trade Counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, Tai was closely involved in negotiations between the House and USTR to reach an agreement on a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) implementing bill that received strong bipartisan support in Congress.

For generations, America's farmers and ranchers have built strong trading relationships to help maintain a competitive edge in the global economy and bolster job creation across the United States. Today, exports are responsible for 33 percent of U.S. corn farmers’ income and more than 20 percent of the U.S. corn crop is exported annually when accounting for corn and value-added products like ethanol and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS).

U.S. corn exports for the current marketing year are on track to surpass projections. USDA predicts that 66.04 Million Metric Tons (MMT), or 2.36 billion bushels – of U.S. corn could be exported in the 2020-2021 marketing year. 164 million gallons of ethanol have been exported thus far.

NCGA believes now is the time to build on the momentum of recently secured agreements with existing trade partners and forge new free trade agreements with strategic partners, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, that offer new growth opportunities for U.S. corn and corn product exports.

There are many trade opportunities for U.S. agriculture, along with challenges such as non-tariff trade barriers that impede corn and corn product market access. NCGA congratulates Ambassador Tai on her confirmation and our farmer leaders look forward to working with Ambassador Tai and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to increase international demand for our product.