On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed phase one of the U.S.-China Trade Agreement and two local politicians were at the White House for the signing ceremony. Representative Deb Kiel (R-Crookston) and Senator Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) attended the ceremony.
Just after the ceremony, Senator Mark Johnson posted a video discussing the positive impacts the agreement could have for Minnesota including major Chinese purchases of agricultural products. “A lot of big names here today that I was shocked to see,” said Johnson in his Facebook post. “Henry Kissinger of all people was here today, so exciting to see. Two things going on with this trade deal that President Trump just signed number one, major purchases by China of U.S. ag products which for Minnesota, is a big deal. The other thing is IP protection. Intellectual Property is a part of Minnesota’s bread and butter. We have some new protections and new enforceability of those. Today was a great day. Got to meet a lot of people and a lot of folks around here are very excited about what this could mean for the state of Minnesota.”
Representative Deb Kiel also attended the ceremony. Kiel said she looks forward to what the agreement may mean for not only the agricultural market but technology and manufacturing as well. “I was very honored,” said Kiel. “To be in that room was quite the experience. I really enjoyed attending the signing for the China trade agreement. I’m looking forward to what that may mean for us in agriculture and our small communities. Farmers are pretty adept at selling their crops as long as they have a market and that’s been really challenging. There are other things that were in this agreement today, protection of our technology, manufacturing, so it’s really important those trade agreements open up. I’m looking forward to things to be much better.”
