State of South Dakota secondary Archives: on Free Trade

Billie Sutton: Better trade deals, not trade wars and tariffs

Invite a bipartisan group of regional governors to a meeting on minimizing the burden of tariffs and improving ag prices. If our representatives in Congress will not work to resolve these issues in a timely manner, agriculture based state governors must come together to bring solutions to leaders in Washington.

South Dakota producers need access to markets. In order to do that, we need to be continually pursuing new market opportunities, not cutting off market access for producers through unnecessary trade barriers like tariffs, which cause farmers and ranchers to bear the brunt of the inevitable retaliation. While we must always be open to negotiating better trade deals with our partners, the current trade war, caused by new tariffs, is doing substantial damage to rural South Dakota.

Dennis Daugaard: Supports USMCA trade agreement to replace NAFTA

Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R-SD): "I am very pleased to hear that the President and his administration have struck a new trade deal that will better serve South Dakota agricultural producers and South Dakota manufacturers. Canada and Mexico rank number one and number two as South Dakota's top international trading partners."

Kristi Noem: Supports trade deal with Mexico/Canada

Kristi Noem: China trade wars makes low soybean prices & hurts farmers

Noem said she's spoken to Trump administration officials and she's consistently advocated for wrapping up trade discussions. The White House is aware South Dakota farmers have previously had soybean shipments unfairly rejected by China, Noem said. "I think the administration is trying to rectify some of that," she said. "The problem is this has gone on now for a long period of time." Sustained, low commodity prices are "driving a lot of family businesses out of business," she added.

Steven Haugaard: Don't export unprocessed agricultural products, do it here