President Donald Trump released objectives for modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the new NAFTA agreement, for agriculture, the administration wants to keep existing duty-free market access while also expanding access.
Senator Grassley says the administration has taken advice to heart from the ag community.
?I intend to do my best to make sure the administration sticks to this commitment.? Another area in the agreement is the section on state-owned enterprises. Grassley says he?s been involved with this as far as China is concerned. ?The administration seems intent on defining state-owned enterprises by either government ownership or government control in situations of minority shareholding.?
Grassley says the definition of state-owned enterprises would be a major step forward.
?Especially as these state-owned enterprises have become more prevalent in commerce across the world. We?ve seen it in some of the Chinese purchases of American companies. The first step to confronting state-owned enterprises is having a very workable definition.?
The senator adds this will probably be the template for other bilateral trade agreements moving forward.
