President and CEO
USA Rice
When you think about the saying, “chaos is a ladder,” trade may not come to mind for most, but it does for me.
Amidst all the Washington chaos about the short- and long-term impacts of import tariffs and retaliatory tariffs by many of our trading partners, there is still untapped potential for improved market access, economic growth, and a chance at leveling the playing field.
Rice is one of the most protected commodities in the world and I accept that its cultural and political sensitivity has caused drama in many trade negotiations over the years. It’s a staple food for more than half of the globe and growing, processing, shipping, and selling it provides food and jobs for billions of people on six continents. Here in the U.S., rice farming and the associated businesses provide more than 125,000 jobs in small rural towns and contribute more than $34 billion to the U.S. economy every year.
We export half of that rice crop to more than 120 countries and we’re a vital part of U.S. domestic and international food aid programs. We supply the U.S. retail, wholesale, and food service sectors, but we’re also an important ingredient in American-made products from Anheuser-Busch beer and breakfast cereal, to pet food, energy bars, and more. It’s safe to say U.S.-grown rice is consumed in some form or fashion in every county across our country each day.
We are leaps and bounds ahead of our global competitors in sustainability efforts, food safety, and worker protections; and we know you are working on razor thin, and sometimes negative, margins.
Our industry has always been a champion for free trade agreements, and we have seen economic benefits from nearly all the U.S. agreements that incorporated increased access for rice at some point. But free trade is not necessarily fair trade.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative found that India subsidizes their rice farmers in excess of 90 percent of their value of production. India’s government covers costs from seed to fertilizer to irrigation. They then buy the rice at a generous guaranteed rate and sell it back to private rice mills for cents on the dollar, where eventually that rice makes its way into the world trade channels at a discounted price. It is impossible for our farmers and processors to compete, and while we win cases at the World Trade Organization, enforcement is anemic.
Other global competitors: Thailand, Pakistan, China, and Vietnam, are encroaching not only on our third country markets, but also right here in our backyard.
Imports of foreign rice into the U.S. have doubled in the last decade with imports from India and Thailand alone equaling $1.2 billion.
President Trump has repeatedly said ‘tariff’ is the most beautiful word in the dictionary. It’s time for him to come to the defense of our farmers through targeted, product-specific reciprocal tariffs against bad actors.
I understand tariffs can be a double-edged sword. They can’t protect a domestic industry that does not exist. But we do have a domestic rice industry. One that is being treated very badly by trade cheats who take us for suckers. If any administration is going to stand up for American rice farmers, I believe it will be this one.
I encourage incoming USTR Ambassador Greer, and the rest of the Administration, to strategically review all agricultural products and trading partners to avoid unintended consequences, but at the end of the day, it’s tariff time.