Though Louisiana is a trade-reliant state, Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain tells The Advertiser President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a negotiated trade deal with 11 Asian countries is encouraging.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s administration that Congress never approved. Trump campaigned on the promise that he would end trade agreements he said favor other partner countries over the U.S.
Strain says the president’s action on his first, full-day on the job demonstrates the primacy that international trade plays in his plans.
“The administration wants to make sure there is a level playing for all concerned,” says Strain, who also is president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
Strain says the administration views the TPP as unfair to the manufacturing sector, although there were many aspects of the partnership that favor agriculture.
While Strain had once favored the trade pact, he says the deal simply languished under the Obama administration, which did not win support from enough Democrats who feared the agreement would hurt U.S. union workers.
Strain says moving ahead is important to the U.S. and world because 20% of exported food globally comes from the U.S. One in three acres planted in Louisiana is exported. Louisiana exported $8.3 billion in agricultural products in 2016, including rice, poultry, beef and soy.
