Grassley Says His Views on Trump Trade Efforts Have Shifted

Trade policy actions by President Donald Trump have started to bear fruit and that has prompted Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to shift his views on the administration's trade actions. "Quite frankly, we thought they did not know what they were doing," Grassley told reporters. "Now it looks like things are coming together."The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and updated South Korea trade deal are two of the factors contributing to Grassley's shift. "Until the USMCA, there was a doubt about whether the president could really pull it off. Now that he was succeeded, I think it reinforces the fact that [farmers] are going to stick with the president," Grassley told reporters in his weekly call.At a stop in Spirit Lake, Iowa, on Monday, Grassley said the USMCA deal could be a key for pork. "Corn and soybeans — nothing special for us in regard to Canada, but the fact that we got an agreement with Canada means we can move along our agreement with Mexico. Mexico's the number one buyer of our corn and also a big buyer of our pork," Grassley said.