Print Column: What if Democratic Electioneering Is Hurting Our Ability to Get Better Trade Deals?
MINOT, N.D. — Based on Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s campaign messaging, her challenger, Rep. Kevin Cramer, doesn’t care about farmers.
This isn’t true, of course. While we can have a debate about the efficacy of the sort of agriculture policies Cramer and Republicans support, Heitkamp’s assertion of indifference is an election year lie.
Our liberal friends are, in many areas of public policy, fond defining empathy as loyalty to Democratic party orthodoxy.
Anyway, at issue is President Donald Trump’s trade policies. It is undeniable his approach to trade negotiations with China, an iconoclastic departure from the free trade traditions of Reagan-era Republicanism, have in the short term had a deleterious impact on some crop prices.
There is some tough sledding right now for soybean growers, in particular, with some elevators in our region declining to buy them.
