There aren’t too many level spots on the floors in our old northern Driftless Area farm house. Erling, who’s well into his 90s and whose family homesteaded our farm during the mid-1800s, told me one day that the floors never seemed to be level in that old house; he told of trying to play with marbles there as a child and was frustrated that the marbles always seemed to roll to one end of each room.
Marbles and not-level playing surfaces can mean much to a young farm boy, as it did with Erling. It also seems to mean much to adults, as trades for the best marbles — or, in grownup talk, international imports and exports — and even playing surfaces take on new meanings.
That’s the case today, as the signing of a Phase I trade deal with China is set to happen today in Washington, D.C., But a farm trade organization and some legislators from both parties say that transparency is important in that agreement.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and President Trump are expected to sign the agreement that Trump Administration officials say should increase agricultural and other goods being exported to China. However, details of the agreement have been kept as a secret.
Farmers for Free Trade co-executive director Brian Kuehl said yesterday that he’s skeptical of Administration claims that the developing trade deal will provide a record $40 billion in agricultural sales – a skepticism he said was based on history and the fact that details of the agreement have been kept secret. Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is among legislators calling for the agreement’s details to be revealed.
In a related matter, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer met Monday and Tuesday with Japanese and European Union trade representatives to discuss the potential for settling World Trade Organization disputes between the three nations and instead focus on dealing with illegal trade dealings practiced by China.
In yet another trade matter, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the U.S. Senate likely will take the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement to a vote this week, ahead of the Senate starting an impeachment trial for President Trump. The agreement, which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement that was scrapped by the president, has been sitting in the Senate since being passed Dec. 19 by the House of Representatives. House leadership and Trump Administration officials had negotiated specifics on the agreement before its House passage. McConnell said the impeachment trial likely would start on Tuesday.
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