Nebraska senator says potential trade deal can improve state agriculture economy

Sen. Pete Ricketts met with leaders in both the Philippines and Taiwan and discussed how to push back against China’s economic power. One way proposed was expanding trade with the U.S.

Ricketts said Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim has expressed interest in buying more of Nebraska’s soybeans instead of purchasing them from Brazil.

“Frankly, Taiwan does buy a lot from us already. We'd like to sell them more,” Ricketts said during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “But there's opportunities there to be able to bring down those trade barriers and open up more markets for our producers in Nebraska.”

Ricketts added that the conversations are ongoing, with Taiwan asking about potentially reducing taxes on Taiwanese companies investing in the U.S.

Ricketts also said he learned more about what challenges rural communities are facing during recent town halls. He does not yet have specifics of what a future Farm Bill could include, but he said the timing of it may be affected by the reconciliation bill, which determines the federal budget.

“We are still working through the Farm Bill. Obviously, one of the priorities we’ve got to get done as well is the reconciliation bill,” he said. “I would expect that we'll probably maybe get some things done through reconciliation, some things done through the farm bill.”

The senator said a best-case scenario would be completing the reconciliation in July, but if it’s pushed back, that would delay the schedule for the Farm Bill.