Heidi Heitkamp : In Meeting with U.S. Trade Representative, Heitkamp Outlines Agenda to Protect & Strengthen North Dakota’s Agriculture & Energy Industries

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today outlined her agenda to protect and strengthen North Dakota's agriculture and energy industries - which rely heavily on exporting their products abroad - in a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Heitkamp outlined her four priorities, including:

• Stabilizing agriculture markets - especially during a time of low commodity prices - and expanding the energy sector.
• Protecting North Dakota's farmers, ranchers, and other exporters from changes or a withdrawal from NAFTA. Almost 90 percent of North Dakota's exports are to Canada and Mexico.
• Keeping the United States in the U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement to protect North Dakota cattle and beef markets from harmful disruptions and price drops.
• Building new trade relationships to expand markets for North Dakota producers. When 95 percent of consumers worldwide live outside the U.S., North Dakota's producers must export to survive.

North Dakota is the ninth largest agriculture exporting state in the country, with $4.1 billion in commodities exported each year-and Canada and Mexico are the state's two biggest foreign markets. For example, of North Dakota's exports, 95 percent of its corn, 88 percent of its beef, 86 percent of its pork, and 100 percent of its poultry go to Canada and Mexico, according to a recent Farm Bureau report. North Dakota's number one export to Canada and Mexico is oil and gas, which makes protecting our trade relationships with those countries critical to preserving jobs and economic growth in the state.

'North Dakota's farmers and ranchers are worried about the impact of a NAFTA withdrawal or renegotiation because trade with their largest export markets - Canada and Mexico - hangs in the balance which impacts their ability to operate,' Heitkamp said. 'During our meeting today, I made sure the concerns of North Dakota's agriculture industry were heard by USTR Lighthizer. After a securing a commitment from him last year to protect agriculture trade in any NAFTA negotiation, I pressed him to respond to the concerns of our beef producers, who would lose out by any disruptions or withdrawal from the U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement. When 95 percent of consumers worldwide live outside the U.S., our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers have to export to survive, so we must preserve and expand our trade relationships - not harm them.'

Heitkamp has long worked to expand and protect market access for North Dakota farmers and ranchers. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Heitkamp is committed to protecting crucial export promotion programs in the 2018 Farm Bill. The president's budget would have slashed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's export promotion programs.

As the latest round of NAFTA talks came to a close, Heitkamp pressed the administration to focus on the need for farmers and ranchers to export to survive. In a bipartisan letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Heitkamp urged the administration to protect agriculture in the renegotiation of NAFTA.

In a call with Lighthizer last November, Heitkamp secured his commitment to protect agriculture in the renegotiation of NAFTA. Shortly after he was confirmed last year, Heitkamp pressed Lighthizer to stand up for North Dakota farmers and ranchers as the administration began pursuing a NAFTA renegotiation.

In 2015, Heitkamp called on then-U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to protect North Dakota grain growers from unfair treatment after a report she requested showed that Canada segregates North Dakota grain and offers unfair prices to U.S. producers at Canadian elevators.

Click here to read an op-ed Heitkamp wrote about the critical role of agriculture exports for North Dakota.

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