Blunt urges trade, hopes for China deal

Missouri's senior U.S. senator wants the United States to have more trade agreements with other countries amid the escalating trade war between China and the Trump administration.

On a visit Thursday to Southeast Missouri State University, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said the United States needs to look for more opportunities to sell products abroad.

Blunt said he recently talked to the Japanese trade ambassador about ongoing efforts to draw up a possible trade deal.

"I think we are close to an agreement there," he said. "That is the third biggest economy in the world."

Blunt said the nation could benefit from one-on-one trade agreements with other nations.

"Opening those markets to more of our products, particularly ag products, would be a good thing," he said.

"I would like to see us have more of those one-on-one relationships if that is the view that the President (Donald Trump) believes is the best way to negotiate. But I think it is time to get some of them done," the Republican lawmaker said.

Blunt told reporters that Congress also needs to ratify a trade agreement with Canada, Mexico and United States.

"It is up to ((House) Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring it to the House floor. But the votes are there to pass that agreement if it comes to the floor. And certainly the votes are there in the Senate," he said.

Such agreement would help American farmers and businesses, he said. Ultimately, he hopes that China and the U.S. will enter into a trade agreement.

Southeast Missouri farmers have been hit financially by the lingering trade war.

"We need these international markets, and China is a major player," said Peter Rost Jr., a second-generation soybean farmer, told the Southeast Missourian earlier this year.

Rost and his father farm 3,000 acres in New Madrid County, with approximately 2,700 earmarked for soybeans this year. He said there's little he and other soybean farmers can do but watch the news, weather and markets.

He said he and other farmers are starting to become frustrated by President Donald Trump's approach to negotiating trade agreements.

"I understand Mr. Trump is trying to get a better deal, but it's killing us," Rost said. "We can't hang on forever."

But Blunt blamed China and not the Trump administration for the trade war.

China has engaged in unfair trade practices, according to Blunt.

"I think if you are going to have a fight, China has certainly set the stage for a traditional trade tariff violation kind of fight," he said.

Blunt said he was glad that Trump lifted tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico earlier this year.

He said he felt it was wrong for Trump to impose the tariffs in the first place.

"My view was we make some steel in our state and that's important, but we buy a lot more steel and aluminum than we make," he said.

"And whether it's aluminum cans or bass boats or airplanes or cars or farm equipment, all of that stuff was impacted in a way that I thought shouldn't have been," he said.

At Southeast, Blunt toured the Otto and Della Seabaugh Polytechnic Building where he received a firsthand look at the school's unmanned aircraft program and viewed various drones, including a fixed-wing drone.

Blunt called such technology "a wave of the future."

He added, "It is a great thing for the university to be part of."

Do you like stories about government and courts? Keep up with the latest news by signing up for our daily morning headline email. Go to semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.