Congressman Steve King

It’s been almost two years since the Trump Administration first started negotiating a new trade agreement with China, and the first official agreement was signed by the two countries earlier this month.

Known as “the first phase,” it largely covers agriculture products from the U.S. going to China. Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District Representative Steve King praised President Donald Trump for passage of part of the trade agreement, however he feels the bigger hurdle is going to be with protecting U.S. intellectual property. King talks about a conversation he had with U.S. Trade Negotiator Robert Lighthizer.

“What he exhibited was, I’ll say a high degree of optimism about the I.P. (intellectual property) negotiations even in phase one, let alone phase two. Lighthizer believes we get substantial progress in that direction. I don’t know if you can ever shut down Chinese theft of U.S. creativity, but you can shrink it down and shrink it down substantially.”

Landus Cooperative Chief Commodity Marketing Officer Ron DeJohn also applauded progress on the new Chinese trade agreement, saying, “This provides a first step toward a more fair and open trade agreement long term with the largest customer in the world.  Our farmer-members are more successful when free and honest trade opportunities exist. China is a major demand center for soybeans, corn and livestock producers.”

The Chinese agreement came days following approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement.