U.S. Senator, Chuck Grassley, who has also been a life-long farmer and who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, commented yesterday (Wednesday) on the second wave of tariff’s, that now includes both pork and soybeans. “We need to protect U.S. intellectual property and American competitiveness,” Grassley says. “Foreign theft of intellectual property, forced technology transfers, discriminatory licensing restrictions and other unfair practices harm U.S. innovation and affect every sector of our economy, including agriculture,” he adds. Grassley recently traveled to China to urge officials to rein in the unfair trade practices, but believes these urgings fell on deaf ears. Grassley warned President Trump that the implementation of tariffs on Chinese goods would result in a retaliation against U.S. agriculture, and says that it is the responsibility of the federal government to help mitigate the damage caused to the Americans impacted. Grassley will be addressing these issues through the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade policy, as well as through his position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for patent, copyright and trademark policy.
