Boozman, Thune, Crapo Lead Colleagues in Demanding Biden Administration Increase Agricultural Exports

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, along with Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, led 18 of their colleagues in urging U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to increase U.S. agricultural exports and improve the competitiveness of U.S. products abroad.  

“We expect trade to fluctuate in response to macroeconomic factors and market conditions,” wrote the senators. “However, the current sharp decline in U.S. agricultural exports is directly attributable to and exacerbated by an unambitious U.S. trade strategy that is failing to meaningfully expand market access or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. While the Biden administration continually refuses to pursue traditional free trade agreements, China, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and others continue to ink trade pacts that diminish American export opportunities and global economic influence.”

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds, (R-SD), Tim Scott (R-SC), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

 Full letter here and below:

Dear Ambassador Tai and Secretary Vilsack: 

We write to express deep concern with the continued erosion of critical markets for U.S. agricultural exports. For decades, the United States steadily increased market access for U.S. food and agricultural products. We accomplished this feat through negotiations of actual free trade agreements, removal of technical barriers to trade, and holding our trading partners accountable to their commitments, all of which have helped strengthen the agriculture economy at home and developed important strategic relationships abroad. Yet, in the last fiscal year (FY) alone, U.S. agricultural exports declined by more than $17 billion, and recent forecasts show a further decline by more than $8 billion in FY 2024. As a result, the U.S. agricultural trade deficit is projected to reach a record $30.5 billion in FY 2024. This decline is unsustainable, and we urge the Biden administration to immediately take action to improve the competitiveness of U.S. agricultural products abroad and reverse this trend.

We expect trade to fluctuate in response to macroeconomic factors and market conditions. However, the current sharp decline in U.S. agricultural exports is directly attributable to and exacerbated by an unambitious U.S. trade strategy that is failing to meaningfully expand market access or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. While the Biden administration continually refuses to pursue traditional free trade agreements, China, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and others continue to ink trade pacts that diminish American export opportunities and global economic influence.

International trade is critical to the continued success of U.S. agriculture. For the 2023 marketing year, nearly 70 million acres of major crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat were planted to meet the demands of our foreign customers. Additionally, more than 95 percent of U.S. cotton produced, nearly 80 percent of almonds produced, and more than 70 percent of nonfat milk powder produced were destined for the export market in 2023. And in a typical year, half of U.S.-produced rice and 20 percent of U.S.-produced potatoes are exported. Diminishing access to foreign agricultural markets for U.S. industries creates significant economic headwinds and jeopardizes the livelihoods of more than one million American workers, farmers, and ranchers, as well as millions more U.S. jobs throughout the export supply chain. 

With our concerns in mind, please respond to the following questions within 14 days of your receipt of this letter. 

• What specific actions does the Biden administration plan to take to increase U.S. agricultural exports in 2024?

• Does the Biden administration intend to pursue new or improved free trade agreements with any countries to obtain new market access for agricultural products in 2024?

We further ask the Biden administration to take steps to analyze and consider the relationship between U.S. competitiveness and market share in foreign agricultural markets with negotiated tariffs, tariff rate quotas, and other market access provisions. 

A continued decline in U.S. agricultural exports is avoidable and unacceptable. The Biden administration must take immediate action to ensure this does not become a long-term trend. Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. 

Boozman, Crapo Urge Biden Administration to Withdraw EV Mandate

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) led a bicameral group of 120 members of Congress in sending a letter to U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman calling for the withdrawal of the Biden administration’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks. The proposed standards, which would require automakers to more than double average fleet-wide fuel economy in less than 10 years, do not comply with federal law, and would effectively mandate the mass production of electric vehicles (EVs) and a phase out of gas-powered cars and trucks.  

“We write to express our deep concern with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light trucks, which represent yet another attempt by this administration to use the rulemaking process to impose its climate agenda on American families,” the lawmakers wrote. “NHTSA’s proposed standards, when coupled with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) distinct, extreme tailpipe emissions proposal, amount to a de facto mandate for electric vehicles (EVs) that threatens to raise costs and restrict consumer choice, harm U.S. businesses, degrade our energy and national security and hand the keys of our automotive industry over to our adversaries, especially China.”

“The proposal issued in July is mere virtue signaling for this administration’s extreme climate agenda, but it would actually have only limited impact on emissions while strengthening foreign adversaries and harming American workers and consumers,” the lawmakers concluded. “We strongly urge NHTSA to drop its attempt at central planning and instead put forth a workable proposal that complies with the law and better serves the American people.”

Click here to read the full letter.

The letter was also signed by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Congressman Rick Crawford (R-AR).

The lawmakers’ outcry accompanied other elected officials’ pushing back against the EV mandate. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders joined a group of governors in sending a letter earlier this week to President Biden demanding he scale back the directive.

Industry leaders agree this action will prevent Americans from deciding what vehicles best fit their needs.

“The Biden administration is overseeing a whole-of-government campaign to effectively ban new gas, diesel and flex fuel vehicles,” said President and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) Chet Thompson. “This agenda is bad for American families, bad for our economy and indefensible from a national security perspective. And what’s even more glaring is that both EPA and NHTSA—the agencies spearheading President Biden’s forced electrification agenda—do not have Congressional authorization to regulate internal combustion engine vehicles out of the market. AFPM supports efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation and improve vehicle performance and efficiency for consumers. And unlike the Biden administration’s CAFE proposal, we believe successful, consumer-first policies must encourage real competition among all technologies and powertrains, including American-made, American-grown fuels.

“NHTSA’s proposal, combined with EPA’s proposed tailpipe emissions standards, would result in a de facto ban on the sale of new vehicles using gasoline and other liquid fuels,” said API Executive Vice President & Chief Advocacy Officer Amanda Eversole. “These rules will hurt consumers through potentially higher costs, fewer options and increased reliance on unstable foreign supply chains. 

Boozman is a cosponsor of the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act to counter the Biden administration’s radical environmental agenda and executive overreach by preventing the implementation of a proposed rule and other regulations that seek to limit consumer vehicle choice.