Chad Smith, NAFB News Service

Americans for Free Trade is a broad coalition that includes Farmers for Free Trade. That coalition sent a letter to president-elect Joe Biden, asking him to remove the tariffs that President Donald Trump placed on Chinese imports. “Finding a way to remove the tariffs while creating an effective new, multilaterally-supported approach to China trade issues would provide an immediate economic boost to U.S. companies, especially the small and medium-sized companies,” the coalition says in the letter. “While we all agree that our trading partners must live up to their commitments, the current Section 301 China tariffs and Section 232 steel/aluminum tariffs have been a blunt instrument, imposing undue costs on U.S. employers and families.” The coalition says tariffs have increased the costs for U.S. manufacturers and importers, as well as U.S. farmers and ranchers, who they say, “are the subject of retaliatory actions and have thus seen sales and exports evaporate.” They point out that the future of U.S. trade policy must no longer be a go it alone approach. “We must work with our allies to address the systemic issues with China, which was the stated reason why the trade war started,” the letter also says.